Hello everybody! Welcome to your first day of school or back to work or maybe none of it. Didn’t that seem like the longest summer of your life? It’s so strange when the weather hit this morning we knew that a new day had begun and I wanted to give you the skinny on what actually happened in the real estate market in August 2020.
It was a big departure from what last summer was like. All of the sales that would have happened in the spring this year happened in the summer due to Covid-19. Transactions were up 40% year over year. The price on average of a home in Toronto went up a whopping 20%. YES TWENTY PERCENT! Averaging $951,000 up from last year which was $792,000. It’s a big jump.
There are two different types of asset classes we are talking about when talking about this jump. We’re talking about the freehold market, which are detached, semis and townhouses. Then we’re talking about the condo market. The family home (freehold market) obviously jumped the most because people were sick of staying in their little boxes and they went and found a bigger home. There wasn’t a lot of inventory so this pushed prices up.
Detached homes average: $1,500,000
Semi-detached homes average: $1,200,000
Townhouses average: $800,000
Condos average: $680,000
That average condo price is up 8% from last year at this time, but it’s down 2% from the beginning of this year when the condo market was on fire. We needed it to cool down, to be honest. We’re now sitting in a balanced market when there is more inventory out there and buyers can take their time. They can analyze data and take their time making decisions which is really a good thing for us!
We still have so many people going after the detached market. We’re going to seeing more and more of this trend for about another year until the freehold housing prices get too high and the condo market becomes appealing again. Once Covid-19 lifts and things get easier, people can spend more time out and about which makes condo life feel less constricting. There are 1750 condos available for sale right now in the downtown core. That’s a lot of inventory. This doesn’t mean that it’s all good inventory. A lot of investors are giving up their condos due to restrictions on Airbnb and rental amounts are down. There is a whole lot going on right now in the market and you need a good Toronto real estate agent who can navigate these waters with you.
If you are buying, make sure you take your time and that you have a great Toronto real estate agent who can give you all the information you need each building. If you’re trying to buy a freehold house, stick with it. It’s a competitive market out there and you need someone who understands the strategy, the micro-market, and how to get the job done.
I hope that helps you understand what is going on in the market. If you need me, please give me a call or feel free to text me at 416-728-5401.
