Many condo owners purchase with the intent of climbing aboard the "property ladder." The intention isn't usually to buy a condo as a "forever home" but rather to move up to a house once they have accumulated some equity. However, freehold (non-condominium houses) properties have been appreciating at a faster pace than condos over the years and with higher price to begin with, the price gap between the two ownership types has grown over the years. When GTA freehold... [read more]

Back in March I wrote a blog post looking at the price gap between detached houses and condo apartments in the 416, noting it had come well off of the spring 2017 highs and was back to 2015 levels (on an absolute dollars basis) or 2013 levels (on a ratio basis). At that time I wrote: It may be a good time for move-up buyer to swing from a condo to a house as the price gap is back to 2015 levels. Then again, there may be more gap shrinking to come. I don't have a crystal ball,... [read more]

Carrying on the narrative from last month, and the last several really, condos are still having a rough go of things, and freeholds are not. You'll find the full set of market charts (only excerpts are highlighted below) here on my website. Let's get at November... Freeholds are all caught up - and then some After the big 416 freehold sales hole from April (-65% YoY) and May (-62%) and even June (-12%), I would never have thought we'd be able to... [read more]

Here's your Toronto real estate market report for November. After a slow start to the year (continuing where 2018 left off), the last 8 months have all been up double-digits in sales volumes, with November coming in at +14.2% across the GTA. The climb back in sales from a very low 2018 (78,017 sales was lowest since 2008) has been going on for months. But the year-over-year (YoY) increase in prices are a huge story, as is whatever the heck is going on with condos. Below are my top... [read more]

Here's your Toronto real estate market report for the month of December - and for the end of the year 2019 A.D. After a slow Q1 (continuing where 2018 left off), the last three quarters have had double-digit gains in sales volumes, and year-over-year (YoY) price increases have been accelerating. The return of sales volume was from the lowest GTA level (78,017) since 2008, so it's a little easier to look good comparatively.  Below are my top observations of the... [read more]