Who says it’s only hot on the left coast? Toronto’s condo market has been the definition of “hot” throughout the summer.
Toronto residential sales spiked 15% in August compared to last year. Condo sales are up 22%. Downtown they’re up 32%!
The sales-to-listings ratio for condos in downtown Toronto is now an astounding 90%. 25-35% is typical.
While it’s slowed down a bit in September, RE/MAX Condos Plus says, “multiple offers are the norm,” and advises to beware of the “phantom offer.”
Add heat you get sizzle, from sizzle comes the bubbles, and when bubbles pop you get burned. Never cook bacon without a shirt on.
I can’t believe some of these prices quoted in the article. An estimated $600,000 for a 1614 sq ft loft? In order to afford that you would have to put 120,000 down and have a mortgage for 480,000. In order to do this your payment would be $2,929.88 (480K, 25Year, 5.5%). For that to be doable you would have to make around 110K a year (32% of monthly income).
I was recently reading another article that stated the top 5% of income earners in Canada make around $89,000. Add about 4% per year since that was quoted as 2004 numbers you get to around 104,000 for 2007. That means only around the top 5% of the whole country can afford these prices, even with 20% down. The median family income in Toronto may be close to 90-100K or so, but I very much doubt that families are buying lofts downtown.
I see us following in the footsteps of the USA. California, here we come. Only with snow up to our ears.
P.S. If I was going to spend 480K on a home it better be something like this:
http://tinyurl.com/39ou8n
If you could please delete the last post, the URL was far too long and goes off the page.
“Never cook bacon without a shirt on.” I love it. :)
You make excellent points about affordability. It’s amazing how Canadians are finding ways to bring the average property within financial reach. As for the repercussions of this, well… :(
Melanie