We're all in the same STORM...but we're all not in the same boat!

It's been 7 weeks since we first faced adversity and a life-threatening pandemic.  Having had this time to work both with people and on my business, I wanted to start with this months Market Watch report with a few thoughts.  Are we stuck at home or ARE WE SAFE AT HOME?  Thoughts dictate feelings, feelings control action, and actions determine events.  Here are my real estate THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, ACTIONS that I have analyzed during this period.

• Buyers are acting normal; sellers are acting normal.
• Buyers are coming back into the market and are finding it disappointing with the lack of inventory.  75% of buyers are healthy and still employed.  They are seeing historically low mortgage levels and ARE actively looking for the right home that meets their needs.  My website statistics for home searching has jumped over 300% in the last 3 weeks.  People are actively looking (curious or considering) to make a move this year.  Data doesn't lie.
• The feedback I am getting from people I have talked with is that almost everyone has delayed their entry back into the market by 1-2 months and are simply looking for an all-clear signal from our Governments.  YES, there is still a great desire for people to buy, for people to sell and for people to own a home.
• I anticipate, for the year as a whole in 2020, the sales activity will be down about 10 per cent to 15 per cent.  The traditional SPRING market (as some of you call it) has been affected and I believe once the "all clear" is signalled we will see pent-up buyer demand driving activity once again in the Toronto and GTA markets.
• I think that home prices will not decline because of the inventory shortage that we have. There is no expectation by the buyers for any BIG discount.  The average price reported this past month was actually flat (up slightly by 0.1% year over year).
• Going into 2021, we have all this pent-up demand. I think the sales will increase by about 15 per cent (year-over-year) and the price is rising 3 to 5 per cent.  
• We have the political landscape, we have the media landscape and then we have some data.  Let the facts be driven by Data and not media.  The facts are always in the numbers.
• If we end up 2020 and we’ve lost 10 to 15 per cent in sales volume that would be remarkable and it would be fantastic and very acceptable for a bump in a year.  Look back at 2008 bump when sales dropped to 74,505 and the following year (despite the financial challenges sellers and buyers had) in 2009 the volume 86,980 or approximately 7.5% increase.
• For the current housing situation, we had a housing shortage before the pandemic and we have even acute shortage today because of not enough listings.
• SEEING THE OPPORTUNITY.  Real estate offers a great investment opportunity for all of us.  Plain economics goes like this.  Core inflation is predicted to rise over the next 5 years (Government of Cda, not me).  Current mortgage rates are historically low with a 5 year fixed rate touching on 2.49% or better.  If you knew that you could hedge against inflation today, have a fixed and locked mortgage payment, a principle payment declining every month (I refer to it as "wake up money" - every morning you made money while building wealth), and purchase today at a price while benefitting from core house inflation (house price rising) would it make sense to consider investing today in yourself to build your wealth.  If you agree with me, let's chat more about putting a plan together to get you there.  If not, that's okay too.  Real Estate has always been a good strategy in Canada to grow your wealth.  The facts over time speak for themselves.  
• This is adversity. You go through adversity but come out at the end, the other side, to say ‘I have more knowledge, I have more relationships built up’ and that would be a very good starting point for the upturn that I anticipate will be happening later in the year.  I want to earn that trust and right to be your TRUSTED REAL ESTATE ADVISOR!

My advice is simple.  Stay calm, if you are considering selling, start searching homes in your community to see listing prices and what sold, contact me to get a home value opinion (it's free, so use it), and develop a plan where you want to move next.  If you are a buyer, contact your mortgage professional (or if you don't have one contact me and I will provide only trusted ones I work with that have proven themselves to my clients) and update your pre-approval status.  Re-evaluate your lifestyle and what you really want in the neighbourhood and home characteristics (what can you live without and what is a MUST have).  Most importantly, listen to your gut and stay within your budget range and don't let another realtor tell you to spend more than your comfortable with (work with a real estate advisor, like me, who is here to help you and aligned to your goals and not their own agenda).  People matter...You matter!

If you’re thinking about buying or selling your home, it's important to have a good understanding of what’s going on in the Toronto market.  Knowing the most important data such as the average sales price, the number of homes sold, and days on market will better prepare you to sell or buy your home.

The April 2020 market report showcases everything you need to know about the GTA and local Toronto real estate trends.

If you are looking for micro-specific neighbourhood data please email for a personalized report important to you.  It would be my pleasure to have that conversation and provide you with FACTS important to you.

★refers to the average number of days a property was on the market before selling irrespective of whether the property was listed more than once by the same combination of seller and brokerage during the original listing contract period.

Press Release TTREB

TORONTO, ONTARIO, May 5, 2020 – Toronto Regional Real Estate Board President Michael Collins released the following key housing market statistics for April 202

Home Sales and Listings • Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 2,975 residential transactions through TRREB’s MLS® System. This result was down by 67 per cent compared to April 2019. Weekday sales remained within a relatively steady range during the month, averaging 130 per day. • New listings amounted to 6,174 in April 2020 – down on a year-over-year basis by a similar rate compared to sales (-64.1 per cent

Home Prices

• The average selling price for April 2020 transactions was $821,392 – up by 0.1 per cent compared to the average price of $820,373 reported for April 2019. The semi-detached and townhouse market segments experienced annual average price growth above the rate of inflation. The condominium apartment and detached segments experienced year-over-year price declines on average.
• The trend for the MLS® Home Price Index Composite Benchmark, which had been on an upward trajectory since the beginning of 2019 flattened in April. On a year-over-year basis, the Benchmark was up by 10 per cent.
• The MLS® HPI indices represent prices for typical homes with consistent attributes from one period to the next. The fact that the MLS® HPI was up year-over-year by a greater rate than the average selling price suggests that the share of higher-end deals completed in April 2020 versus April 2019 was down.