Some people are giving up on buying a condo in Toronto and it's bringing sales down
Toronto's condo market appears to be cooling down once again after a brief pandemic lull that led to a rapid spike in activity for those looking to get a bit of a bargain in Canada's largest and most expensive city.
According to new data from condo listing website Strata, the number of condo sales in the city has indeed dropped, and quite substantially — down 17 per cent in April compared to March, all while the number of units on the market actually increased slightly.
Prices per square foot, too, have begun to fall, albeit marginally, at $3 less per square foot last month than in the month prior.
It blows my mind that a 70m² condo downtown Toronto is more expensive than a whole ass ISLAND in Nova Scotia
— uwu (@glitter_tears_) May 4, 2021
Experts earlier this year feared market overheating so drastic that it could have required government intervention, but it seems like, as some predicted, cooling may be happening all on its own, at least when it comes to condos in the city.
Strata's brokers agree, saying in their recent analysis that the norm will no longer be rampant bidding wars, condos selling for hundreds of thousands over asking, and record-breaking prices and transaction volumes we've come to know in late 2020 and thus far in 2021.
What a joke. The max purchase price under this “expansion” is $720K. That won’t get you more than a studio or 1 bed condo in Toronto, if you’re lucky. We need real affordability solutions for young professionals that need a home to start a family.
— AngryMillennial (@MillennialTo) May 3, 2021
Part of it is due to buyer fatigue in such a hectic and competitive market, which is still overall considered high risk, with a home in the GTA now costing, on average, more than $1 million, and the average detached house in the city proper now setting buyers back a staggering $1.75 million.
With numbers like that, it's no wonder so many have given up on the hope to ever own property in the GTA, or even anywhere in the province.
While the first quarter of the year saw the condo market bounce back quite dramatically — boosting the portfolios especially of those who'd invested in presale units — Strata believes that Q2 will be a whole lot tamer.
In every wild cycle of any asset, there's a story people will forever point to as "the Greatest Fool" moment
— JeannieLee@CBC (@JeannieLee88) May 4, 2021
In the Great 2021 Housing Rush, will it be this story?
A 500 SF condo that got a blind bid of $100,000 over most other bids?#UnrealRealEstate#toronto https://t.co/T7kmPQ6EY0
Even amid a health crisis that has decimated numerous industries, Toronto has been on the verge of a housing bubble for months now, so stakeholders will have to sit tight and see how a return to some form of normal — whenever that actually happens — will impact the market.
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