Toronto's scorching real estate market has the roof falling in on the home inspection industry, where business is down by more than 65 per cent in many areas. That's largely due to the bidding wars and fast-paced home sales in cities across the province, including mid-sized centres like Windsor and London, but particularly in the Toronto area, said Len Inkster of the Ontario Association of Certified Home Inspectors. He quoted real estate industry statistics that... [read more]

Toronto’s real estate sales climbed more than 11 per cent in October compared with a year earlier, despite the introduction of new federal mortgage rules aimed at cooling the region’s overheated housing market. The average price of all homes across the Toronto region rose 21 per cent to $762,975 last month, compared to October 2015, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) on Thursday. Real estate sales climbed 11.5 per cent in October, compared to the same month in... [read more]

    Ontario residents are feeling more optimistic about the economy in general and the real estate market specifically with a fundamental shift in how they view the market, according to anIpsos poll released Wednesday by the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA). It showed that confidence has gained a record 27 points since November on the Ontario Homeownership Index. That’s the biggest gain since the OREA began tracking attitudes in 2013. “It is by far... [read more]

Toronto homebuyers should not expect the frantic pace and blistering prices of the housing market to continue, warns the head of the Bank of Canada. “Prospective homebuyers and their lenders should not extrapolate recent real estate performance into the future when contemplating a transaction,” Stephen Poloz said Thursday with the release of the bank’s semi-annual financial system review. It was a caution to consumers not to get caught up in the frenzied market... [read more]

  The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) doesn't want real estate boards outside Toronto to be bound by a Competition Tribunal ruling that will likely force the country's largest board to lift restrictions on some property sales data. CREA has also asked the Tribunal to make sure that the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) can still extract consumers' "informed consent, regarding the wide dissemination of their personal information over the... [read more]

  A new report by Christie’s International Real Estate found that Toronto’s luxury real estate market grew substantially last year. According to Christie’s Canadian affiliate, Chestnut Park Real Estate, Toronto saw a 48 per cent increase in luxury real estate from 2014 to 2015. Auckland, New Zealand took the top spot with a 64 per cent increase. “Singapore, New York, London, and Hong Kong are all experiencing slowdowns in sales, while Toronto, San... [read more]

  Toronto real estate agent Elli Davis just closed a “bully offer” for $300,000 over a $2.65 million listing price, a type of deal she’s making more often in the busiest market she’s seen in nearly 30 years. The increasingly competitive Greater Toronto Area real estate market is on pace for another year of record-breaking sales and double-digit price growth as buyers bid aggressively for the few houses on the market. Sales in the first quarter of 2016 rose... [read more]

  Real estate agent Shawn Lackie was greeting house hunters with some trepidation when he listed a house for sale in Whitby, Ont. last week. Multiple offers for desirable houses have been common in the suburbs surrounding Toronto for more than a year now, but Mr. Lackie wasn’t sure if a neglected fixer-upper would inspire a frenzy or a revolt. “It was a beautiful home in its day – which was about 1994,” says Mr. Lackie of Coldwell Banker RMR Real... [read more]

  During most spring markets in Toronto real estate, agents are flummoxed by the same phenomenon: Buyers tend to get especially enthusiastic about properties when they know that others want them. It works the other way around too: If bidders don’t get the sense that competitors are lurking, they begin second-guessing themselves. Did they miss an unmistakable defect that everyone else saw? It’s clearly human nature, says Christopher Bibby, an agent with Sutton Group... [read more]

  The trendiest neighbourhoods in Toronto aren’t in the trendy west end, but the east. Homes north of Danforth Ave. and east of the Don River are selling fast, according to data provided by the Toronto Real Estate Board. The area, which encompasses posh Playter Estates to the west and rough-around-the edges Woodbine-Lumsden further east, boasts the shortest sale times in the city, with homes averaging a mere 12 days on the market compared to a city-wide average of 21... [read more]