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February 2010 Toronto Real Estate Board Statistics Predict A Record Month For Sales
January 2010 Toronto Real Estate Statistics
With a projected 7,000 plus sales for February, Toronto’s market looks like it will set a record for the month.
The previous February sales high was 6,866 houses and condominiums changing hands in 2002 although 2006 and 2007 also were within a few hundred sales of this number.
Although the Toronto Star painted January sales as “crazy”, the 4,986 sales were lower than either 2007 or 2008. They were only ‘crazy’ when compared to the dismal performance in January 2009 when we were at the absolute bottom of the market here in Toronto.
Listing inventory continues to be a problem… we now have the lowest number of houses and condominiums on the market since before 2000… and this is causing Toronto’s market to be extremely busy.
Condo purchases have been very steady, taking up just over one-third of sales in the past six months.
What about that ‘bubble’ the media is so f0nd of talking about? The problem is, they’re comparing this year to 12 months ago – an unfair comparison considering the world was imploding then.
When you compare current 2010 sales to those of 2008 or 2007, the changes are not so dramatic.
Take a look at the chart below. You’ll see that the average sale price on the Toronto Real Estate Board increased a modest 5.5% annually on average over the last 13 years.
Compare this to double-digit sale price increases across many US communities in the first several years of the decade – which caused their market to crash and reprice itself. Unlike the Americans, our busy markets are almost confined to two major cities – Toronto and Vancouver – and this is due to the strong economies, and buyer confidence, in both.
January 2010’s average sale price for condos and houses in Toronto was $409,058, actually down 0.7% from December 2009’s average. The February 2010 average to the mid-month point was $429,997 – definitely a leap up if it is sustained in the coming months.
TREB Sale Price Data
Remember that we hit a high of $423,559 for the average sale price in October of last year which couldn’t be sustained.
We’re certainly seeming some effects from the advent of HST as of July 1st. Infill home builders are seeing increased sales with deliveries prior to the end of June.
I’ve had a couple of resale clients tell me they’d like to close prior to the introduction of the HST to avoid the extra tax on the various closing expenses.
If it’s like the advent of the City of Toronto land transfer tax two years ago, people will be held back for a few months but will soon take the additional costs into account almost naturally and the extra bit of tax will just be another ‘cost of doing business’.
If you’d like to peruse the entire January 2010 Toronto Real Estate Board MarketWatch Report, click here.
RE/MAX Scholarship Fund Helps Toronto Real Estate Team Clients
A part of our company’s business philosophy is to give back to our community in which we live. One of the ways we do this is through our annual RE/MAX Hallmark Scholarship Program.
Each year the sum of $10,000 is awarded to a number of university aged children of present and past clients of RE/MAX Hallmark Realtors.
We are now accepting applications for the 2010 Fall Semester. The deadline for application submission is March 31st, 2010.
Please click on the links below to see the program criteria and to download a scholarship application form.
If you’re one of our present or past clients (going back to 1983 
), we encourage you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to assist you with your children’s future.
Click here to look at the scholarship criteria.
Click here to download the scholarship application.
Here’s proof that renting in Toronto is better than buying… NOT!
Every once in a while we run into someone who says “I am going to wait for prices to drop”.
Last year one of our 2002 Buyer Workshop graduates called us to inquire about how the market was.
We told him the market was at the bottom and now was the time he had been waiting for.
Unfortunately, he did nothing!
Here’s what happened to one of our buyers who DID do something…
RE/MAX In Toronto Supports The Children’s Miracle Network
At this week’s 2-day RE/MAX Ontario-Atlantic Canada rally, there were three great speakers to educate everyone PLUS there were several special children in attendance.
These kids were awarded ‘medals of bravery’ for the surgeries that the Sick Kids Hospital has had to perform on them to save their lives.
Our Toronto’s Real Estate Team – Thomas & Sally Cook Plus has contributed many $thousands over the years to this cause as well as to the Search For A Cure program to find a cure for breast cancer.
RE/MAX internationally will reach $100 million in donations in 2010 and agents from across Canada have contributed almost $40 million dollars in support of our local Children’s Miracle Network hospitals.
Take a look at the awards ceremony… up on the screen they showed the types of treatments these kids endured. Very brave!!
To find out more about the program, go to www.ChildrensMiracleNetwork.ca .
Thank You For Making Us In The Top 20 Teams For RE/MAX In Canada !!
Thanks to your help, we’ve almost doubled the number of clients we’ve helped in 2009 vs 2008. Of course it helps that we didn’t build a cottage this year – that took, no kidding, almost six months of my time in 2008.
I applaud those buyers who, despite the doom and gloom of the first 4-5 months of 2009, saw the potential and made the plunge to buy a home.
In the March time frame it was looking pretty grim… I remember appraising a client’s home at the time for about $380,000 – $400,000. They found the home of their dreams in early October and we ended up selling their existing home for $489,000 – almost a $100,000 increase.
I did a recent appraisal for a lady who owns a condo down at CityPlace. She originally bought it in 2003 for her home and paid $215,000 but started renting it three years ago as an investment property. I appraised it for $330,000 – $350,000 – an increase of $120,000 + or $20,000 per year. It certainly beats renting!
Of course, during those 6 years, she paid down a significant amount on her mortgage too further increasing her equity position.
Real estate in Toronto has continually proven itself to be an excellent long-term investment. Maybe 2010 will be the year for you.
Here’s our 2009 Year End video message to all of you. Please enjoy and have a safe and profitable 2010.
