Toronto Real Estate Sales Continue Their Slow Pace In January But…

Sales in January 2009 continue to follow the trend established in November and December of last year. Sales in the month were approximately 2,700, down 47% from January 2008.

Inventory levels of houses and condos were up by 28% over last January’s numbers. The ratio of sales-to-listings ended the month at approximately 13%… strong buyer market territory.

Despite that, our Team listing sales were fairly brisk. We had multiple offers on some listings and lots of showing activity on all the others, most of which resulted in offers. This was not a unique activity to just us… see the Globe and Mail article from last Friday.

Why was this extra activity happening for some of us? I think the key is setting the list price realistically. I have one Power Of Sale listing which is getting lots of showings but no offers. I’ve told the bank several times that the price is too high but they’ve been unwilling to lower it to the level it needs to be to get an offer and a sale.

Lots of cranes are still evident on Toronto's skyline

If you’ve looked at the downtown skyline recently, you still see lots of cranes moving briskly about. As of last fall there were about 38,000 condominium suites under construction all across Toronto.

Since our banks were quite strict with builders, we know that at least 60% of suites, and maybe more, had to be sold before construction began. It’s also predicted that about 10,000 suites will sell in 2009. The pace of new projects being marketed has also slowed dramatically. This will help ensure that a glut of condo units won’t come on the market in 2010 and 2011.

On the mortgage front, we’ve heard of some of our clients getting a 5-year fixed rate mortgage in the 3.65% range… absolutely phenomenal! There’s some terrific deals out there and some terrific financing possibilities to take advantage of.

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