TORONTO - Most of the Canadian Banks lowered their residential mortgage rates. After the housing market has dropped 30% month to month, we’ll need more than lower interest rates to revive the Toronto real estate market.
Sellers of homes hoping that the Real Estate Market turned around for the better in August probably need to read the latest news and sales data about the Greater Toronto Area.
The Toronto Real Estate Board is among the first to release their monthly sales data, and tend to foresee the broader national data that will be released by the middle of September by the Canadian Real Estate Association.
The Toronto Real Estate Board released August data late last week, for the Greater Toronto Area and has conceded that the heady days of the seller’s market are over. In the Greater Toronto Area, sales were 22 per cent lower.
The prospect of interest rate hikes and new mortgage lending rules, prompted some Buyers to rush in buying sooner than they otherwise would have. The result has been a larger than normal drop in sales over the month of August,” and a higher number of properties available for sale.
After peaking earlier this year, average sale prices have fallen back as well. In Toronto, the average price in August was $411,012 – 8.6 per cent lower than the month of May’s high of $446,593.
There is moderate demand from Buyer looking to buy a home, with low interest rates and a healthy but slow stream of properties for sale, and stability when it comes to price fluctuations after reaching record highs in the spring market, before a sustained drop in the average selling price would take place, Market conditions and the affordability picture would have to change dramatically, possibly turning this market into a buyer’s Market, all variables that favour those looking to buy a home,
THE GOOD NEWS In Toronto prices are still higher than they were last year; prices are up 5.6 per cent. Market conditions have remained good enough to support higher home prices in comparison to last year.
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