Steven Maislin's blog

June 3, 2020

Dear Friend,

The Toronto real estate market experienced an enjoyable but unexpected jump in sales last month. Toronto real estate board members reported the sale of 4,606 homes, which was only down 53.7% compared to the month before, where the number of sales was down 67% from April 2019.

The biggest surprise came in the form of Toronto prices. Despite the headline-grabbing negativity about Toronto prices, Toronto's average price increased by 3% from the previous month, and up 7.2% (now $878,449) over the 2019 average price of $819,305.

Consumers in the real estate market can expect more digital, low-touch home searches and transactions to continue for the foreseeable future.

Realtors are being advised against handshakes and taking clients out in their cars even as the industry prepares for more activity in the coming weeks as the economy reopens.

e April statistics are in, and I must admit, I am amazed. Toronto Real Estate Board members sold 2,975 homes through the MLS system. Each home sold has someone who purchased it, so there were a total of 5,950 transactions. Yes, those numbers are down 67% compared to April 2019 but much higher than I expected, given the circumstances. The number of new homes that came on the market was also down 64% which makes sense as the number of people being influenced by Covid would be the same, both in wanting to buy and wanting to sell.

Dear Friend,

I hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy during these trying times. It is a difficult time in our history; however, we are very fortunate that it happened in an era of high technology. The internet and cell phones allow many businesses like Amazon, Supermarkets, takeout food delivery services and others to continue to provide services to us, which all limits our exposure to the virus. Apps such as FaceTime, Facebook, Zoom, Go to Meeting, and cell phones, in general, allow us to stay social but, at the same time, practice social distancing.

March 2020

Dear Friend,

A huge month of sales for the GTA area as realtors reported the sale of 7,256 homes, up 45.6% over the 4,982 homes sold in February 2019, with the average price increasing 16.7% to $910,290.

Dear Friend,

It’s a healthy, active real estate market, and the Toronto Real Estate Board’s prediction of a 10% increase in both number and sales seems to be holding up as TREB members reported 4,581 home sales in January 2020 – up by 15.4 % compared to January 2019. The average selling price in January was up by 12.3 %, driven by the detached and condominium apartment segments in the City of Toronto.

The average price for the whole Toronto Real Estate Board now stands at $839,363.

Prince Harry & Meghan Markle recently spent Christmas at a home in Saanich on Vancouver Island, and there has since been speculation that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be making Canada their part-time home. While they haven’t confirmed their plans to move to Canada, we do know that they enjoyed their Christmas getaway on Vancouver Island.

January 2020

Dear Friend,

The unusually active December real estate market is just proof of how strong the desire for homeownership is in the GTA!

December’s  4,399 sales were up 17.4% over December 2019’s 3,746 sales!

Total sales for the calendar year 2019 amounted to 87,825 – up 12.6 % compared to the 78,015 sales reported in 2018 and the average price increased by 4% from $787,756 to $819,319. Based on the demand and continuing lack of homes for sale, I believe prices will raise a minimum of 6% in 2020.