Toronto Real Estate Blog

Financial Post

Men and women setting out to buy a house together should know that they will come to a decision to purchase from different angles, says a survey sponsored by Coldwell Banker, which has uncovered some gender-based differences — as well as some common ground — in their approach to buying.

Among the things the survey commissioned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC showed, women are quicker to make up their minds about whether they want a home they view.

When asked how long it took to decide that their home was “right” for them, 70% of women said it happened the same day they first walked into it. With men, 62% answered this way.

On the other hand, 32% of men said they needed two or more visits to a home before deciding to buy it, compared with 23% of women.

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Toronto is Growing Up

The Toronto Real Estate Board President’s column as it appears each Friday in the Toronto Sun Resale Homes and Condos section

Torontonians are crazy for condos. Last month there were 2,361 condo sales in Toronto and the GTA, an increase of 25% from the previous July.

While sales of all housing types have been robust throughout the past couple of months, Toronto condo sales are making a stronger contribution to the big picture than ever before.

In little more than a decade, Toronto condo sales have gone from comprising a quarter of all GTA real estate transactions to accounting for almost one in every three homes that changes hands. In central Toronto condos now represent 60% of resale real estate transactions.

As a result of the Toronto condo boom the population of the downtown core grew by 10% in the last five-year census period, representing the largest five-year population increase in the core throughout the last 30 years.

And there’s more to come. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts rose in the Toronto area by 10% in June from the previous month to 24,000 units. This can mainly be attributed to condominiums as multi-family developments were up 15% from the prior month.

The popularity of Toronto condominiums has skyrocketed because they appeal to people from so many different walks of life. Toronto welcomes nearly 100,000 newcomers to Canada each year from countries like India and China, where high-rise living is the norm. As such, the Toronto condo market is a natural fit.

Well-educated young adults who are on a career path also see Toronto condo living as an affordable and convenient option, given its proximity to business and city life. Indeed many from the twenty and thirty something age choose developments that reflect their personality.

Whether you’re a media buff, into retro chic or have a penchant for fine art, there’s a Toronto condo designed specifically with your needs in mind.

Empty nesters and those who purchase property around the globe are also drawn to Toronto condos, given their spectacular architecture and luxurious features.

A recent report by Urbanation substantiates their wide appeal; indicating that in the second quarter of this year Toronto new condo sales increased 223% from Q1, to 2,963 units.

Even if you’re not drawn to this housing type, our new vertical city has an economic benefit to all GTA residents.

It obviously benefits housing industry related professions, but it also has a positive impact on a number of other sectors. In fact, according to a study by the Canadian Real Estate Association, one out of every 100 jobs depends on spending associated with resale housing transactions, on things like renovations, furniture and appliances. This study also found that the average resale housing transaction in Ontario generates more than $47,000 in economic spinoffs. Even the smallest businesses benefit from condominium communities, which provide a steady stream of clientele to their ground floor shops.

New housing units also put additional funds into the City’s coffers through property taxes. And intensification offers the opportunity to improve, rather than disperse, city services like transit, waste removal and recreation facilities.

As the fifth most populous urban centre in North America behind Mexico City, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, Toronto is growing up, both literally and figuratively as it matures into a world-class city.

Tom Lebour is President of the Toronto Real Estate Board, a professional association that represents 28,000 Realtors in the Greater Toronto Area.

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Tony Wong – Yourhome.ca

No one has been more surprised by the strength of the Toronto real estate market than the experts who had forecast a dramatic slowdown this year.

“We certainly didn’t expect the market to return this quickly,” said Shaun Hildebrand, senior market analyst for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. “It has caught a lot of people by surprise.”

Well, it’s now official: this year’s cumulative existing home sales surpassed last year’s sales in the first two weeks of August, according to figures released yesterday by the Toronto Real Estate Board.

In the first two weeks of the month, Toronto real estate agents reported 3,832 sales, enough to put the year-to-date figure at 54,303, above the 54,138 recorded in 2008.

“Sometime in August – we don’t know exactly when – we surpassed last year’s sales,” said Jason Mercer, senior manager of market analysis for the board. “We started to see the market come alive in May and it just took off from there.”

The strength of the rebound is even more surprising, since the year started off with sales down by 50% in January. The market started to show positive territory for the first time only in May, rising 2%, before blasting off with an increase of 27% in June and 28% in July.

Comment: Those who followed me in the spring will note that I predicted this. Not a rise of this magnitude, but I did say that things would turn around. Once mortgage rates go into the 3.5% range, I knew that was going to set off a frenzy. And it did. If listings weren’t down so much right now, I am sure we see even larger records being set.

Despite the economic downturn, analysts now expect sales to match or surpass last year’s level of 74,558 sales.

Comment: I said last month that 2009 would handily beat the 2008 numbers. Glad the “experts” now agree with me.

“The year-over-year declines were incredibly steep at the beginning of the year, but the last couple months made up for a lot of lost ground,” Hildebrand said.

CMHC is expected to release a revised forecast next month. In May, the federal agency was forecasting 60,000 sales this year, based on the recession. But that figure, which will likely be surpassed in September with three months left in the year, now looks much too low.

Hildebrand said sales are being driven almost entirely by low interest rates and pent-up demand from home buyers who stayed out of the market during the winter.

“The question is how much more demand will there be when interest rates go up when the economy improves?” he said.

Comment: Well if the economy improves, people will be better off, thus able to handle higher interest rates. That is the way things work. When the economy is bad, rates are low. When the economy is good and people have jobs and money, then rates are higher. It all works out to the same thing, affordability stays the same.

As well, some sales that would likely be made next year are being pulled forward to this year, which may mean lower sales in 2010, he said.

Comment: No, sales that did not happen last year and early this year are finally happening. The rise is not due to people buying now rather than next year. It is people buying now instead of last month or last year.

While this year will likely surpass last year, Hildebrand cautions that momentum is “clearly shifting to the downside” for sales next year.

Comment: What? How could anyone say that sales will go down next year? Momentum is going nowhere but up right now. We have had 3 months in a row with sales and prices rising, with half of August following the same trend. Everything is pointing higher, not lower… this is why I question the opinion of so-called experts and analysts.

“We are selling at a rate that is considerably higher than the economic fundamentals would suggest. We’re bringing buyers in from the future to commit to homes today.”

Strong demand in the past several months has boosted average prices 3% in the first two weeks of August to $383,796, compared with the same period last year.

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Toronto Realtors Report August Mid-Month Resale Market Figures

In the first two weeks of August, Greater Toronto Realtors reported 3,832 sales – up 27% compared to the first two weeks of August 2008. The average price for these transactions was up 3% year-over-year to $383,796.

“The results for the first half of August indicate that many households in the GTA remain confident in their ability to purchase and pay for a home over the long term,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Tom Lebour.

Year-to-date sales, at 54,303 are up slightly compared to 54,138 in 2008. Average price, at $385,603 is down by less than one half of one per cent.

“Strong resale housing demand will contribute to broader economic recovery as each transaction results in substantial spin-off benefits to other sectors of the economy,” explained Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.

Summary Of August Sales And Average Price

City of Toronto (sales +22.9% | price -0.8%)
August 2009 Sales: 1,465 | Average Price: $391,252
August 2008 Sales: 1,192 | Average Price: $394,563

Rest of GTA (sales +29.6% | price +5.2%)
August 2009 Sales: 2,367 | Average Price: $379,181
August 2008 Sales: 1,827 | Average Price: $360,326

All of GTA (sales +26.9% | price +2.7%)
August 2009 Sales: 3,832 | Average Price: $383,796
August 2008 Sales: 3,019 | Average Price: $373,844

Source: Toronto Real Estate Board

Greater Toronto Realtors are passionate about their work. They adhere to a strict Code of Ethics and share a state-of-the-art Multiple Listing Service. Serving over 28,000 Members in the Greater Toronto Area, the Toronto Real Estate Board is Canada’s largest real estate board.

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information  -  416-388-1960

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The combined living area/studio in the Wrigley Lofts building features expansive space and dramatic light

Carolyn Ireland – Globe and Mail

At one time Andrew Morrow was a glass merchant. So when the young entrepreneur overhauled unit 102B in the Wrigley Lofts, he made extensive use of one of his favourite materials.

Mr. Morrow displays colourful dishes, handcrafted pieces and bottled concoctions behind tall glass doors in the kitchen. The bathroom’s shower stall is enclosed in glass, and custom-made mirrors sit above the vanity. A sliding glass panel hides the entry to the bathroom. Elsewhere in the voluminous one-room unit, glass reflects light and adds colour.

When Mr. Morrow purchased 102B, he took over a unit that was almost bare except for the plumbing and electrical fittings.

“We bought the space pretty much raw,” he says. “We built it all from the ground up.”

Mr. Morrow saw potential in the 16-foot high ceilings and industrial-style windows in a unit that was converted from the premises of a former catering company. The Wrigley Lofts building has an even longer history.

Built in 1907, the loft building once housed the chewing gum factory for William Wrigley Jr. Co.

At the time, and for many decades afterward, the area surrounding Queen Street East and Carlaw Avenue was largely made up of workers’ cottages, smoke stacks and industrial buildings. By the 1990s, developers were converting the old factories and warehouses into lofts and studios that drew photographers, graphic artists and sculptors, among others.

The unit will appeal to an artist who needs the expansive space and dramatic light from tall windows. It’s a real, true loft building.

Mr. Morrow uses furniture, carpets and a dramatic white-and-black backdrop to delineate the spaces. The bathroom and laundry room are enclosed, with stairs leading to the bedroom in the space above.

Upstairs, the bedroom is open to the room below. It’s large enough to accommodate a king-sized bed with room left over for clothes and storage.

“It does have the space,” Ms. Ennis says.

In the main room, wooden slats on two walls add texture and architectural interest, Mr. Morrow says.

The black-and-white theme continues in the kitchen, where marble countertops contrast with custom-made cabinets. A lighting system is suspended from the ceiling. Originally, it was going to hang about three feet higher than its current position.

“We decided to drop it down. It encloses the area a little bit,” Mr. Morrow says.

The white walls topped by a ceiling painted black also make the room seem very relaxed – especially at night, he says.

“My favourite element in the space by far is the black ceiling,” Mr. Morrow says, “and the only way we can get away with that is the big windows.”

The unit sits just high enough above the ground to feel removed from the street, he adds. The windows are positioned so that he can’t see passersby and they can’t see in.

Mr. Morrow enjoys the eclectic neighbourhood, which is still home to some long-standing businesses from the area’s blue collar past alongside the trendy boutiques and independent coffee houses that continue to arrive.

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