Last week the real estate market took a slight pause while several major religions celebrated their holiest of days all in the same week. With all that behind us and our hopes dashed for a Maple Leafs playoff run, it’s time to concentrate on the task at hand, getting that house all gussied up for the Spring Market. There are flowers to plant and porches to paint. Curb appeal, after all is the name of the game. The market was in full swing before the holidays and with the warm weather finally arriving, it seems that everything was put on hold. Sellers apparently didn’t get the memo as both the number of freehold and condo listings backed off last week…
Read moreMARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 12TH, 2019
You may have read media reports on a call to ban bully (pre-emptive) offers, which means eliminating offers that result in homes being sold ahead of the time and date specified on the listing. These bidding wars seem to be common in Toronto and other competitive urban markets where inventory is tight. In some neighbourhoods it feels like the days of 2016. We understand it might not seem fair to some, but it would be a tricky area for the government to attempt to legislate, because it could be a conflict situation with seller clients. If you conduct a bully presentation properly by informing everyone who has seen the property, or has booked an appointment, then what is unfair about that? The problem is many buyer agents don’t have the experience or knowledge on how to submit a bully offer, therefore their buyers lose out on a hot property. More training is required to help agents navigate thru this situation and if we don’t see more listings come to market, bully offers will continue to occur…
Read moreMARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 5TH, 2019
Bye, bye March! Welcome sunshine, warm weather, spring flowers and more listings! The March real estate update was released this week and housing sales suggests signs of some stability in Toronto’s market. The market is NOT posting declines in prices and the gains are modest. In fact, the average sale price for the City of Toronto is $830,043, up 1.5% from March of last year. We also saw new listings up 2% to 4,527 year-over-year, but the number of sales were down 9%. Despite sales being markedly lower than the record levels of 2016 and early 2017, the supply of listings has receded. This means that in many neighbourhoods we continue to see fierce competition between buyers for available listings and plenty of bidding wars…
Read moreBOSLEY MARKET SNAPSHOT - MARCH 2019
MARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 29TH, 2019
Now that March is almost over and we seem to be easing into some warmer weather, it appears that Toronto’s real estate market has a bit more “spring” in its step. The Globe reported this week that Toronto has 104 construction cranes, the most tower cranes of any North American city. The next closest city was Seattle with 59 cranes. A tally of cranes in major cities provides a snapshot of economic sentiment. Based on this consulting firm’s findings, no North American city is healthier than Toronto. Just simply look up…
Read moreMARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 22ND, 2019
Is buying a home a dream for first time buyers? In the new budget out this week the centrepiece of Ottawa’s housing plan is to help first time buyers with their new zero-interest loans on the following terms…
Read moreMARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 15TH, 2019
We’re all hoping that everyone returning home from their March break vacations will all be energized and ready to buy or sell. Families with school-aged kids begin to plan their buying and selling strategies around now because they typically want their moves to coincide with the end of the school year. We all hope to see a surge in new listings in the coming weeks and typically sales and prices tend to peak each year from now until May. Sellers have to be realistic about the type of property they are selling and the price they are hoping to fetch. Bidding wars in certain neighbourhoods are still the norm. A property this week out of our office in the west end received 10 offers and sold for $370,000 over asking…
Read moreMARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 8TH, 2019
Without question the weather Toronto has experienced so far this year with unsightly banks of grey hardened snow and ice, has delayed the market action. The number of new listings and sales are slightly down compared to a year ago, but the good news is the average selling price for The City of Toronto is up 4.2% to $840,211 compared to last February which was $806,494. With March break upon us next week listings will be slim. Most sellers who are planning to list their properties have been instructed to wait until after the school breaks. Hopefully by then we can expect some balmy temperatures to arrive which will bring us the usual spring bounce…
Read moreBosley Market Snapshot - February 2019
MARKET UPDATE FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 15TH, 2019
Real estate disrupters come and go. Many of these new “disrupters”, some coming here from the USA will offer you a quick estimate using an algorithm without doing a market analysis. Are they overlooking the emotional aspect of selling a home and are they just order takers? The market in the last couple of years was booming. You would list a house and it would sell within days. Now in some areas, realtors need to brush up on their negotiating skills and a lot of that comes with experience and training…
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