Condo inventory declined by 56%!

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew la Fleur: Hey, how’s it going? Andrew here. Just wanted to give you a little update video on what’s happening in the condo market this week. Actually I just came back from a little thing here. Got this pretty cool looking award given to me by Daniels. I don’t know if you can see that. Top Selling Agent 2016, so thank you very much Daniels for that very cool and artistic real piece of art. Even has the signature of the artist there right there. That’s pretty cool. Thank you from Daniels, Daniels of course being one of my favorite builders to work with and bought from them myself many times.

Wanted to talk to you about a few new stories that came out this week. The first one is from the metro. It says “Move over Toronto, Mississauga has its own condo boom.” The buzz is really starting to build for the M-City Condo Project in downtown Mississauga with Rogers. That’s primarily what this article is talking about. Very interesting. They’re saying that 1 bedrooms will be starting from $199,000 perhaps in this building. I’m a little bit skeptical of that price. I think there’s got to be some sort of a catch. Probably it’s going to be at $199,000 for a condo in that location in a building like this, it’s got to be a very, very small one bedroom. Maybe it has no balcony. Maybe it’s facing a wall or something like that, so don’t get your hopes up too much that you’re going to have a one bedroom on the 40th floor with a huge balcony and it’s $200,000. That’s probably not going to happen, but it does look like there will be some good value in this building and looking forward to that, but also Daniels has … Speaking of Daniels, Daniels has a project coming up as well this year in downtown Mississauga, so that’s certainly something to watch.

Downtown Mississauga, as I’ve talked about in the past, is experiencing a sort of new condo boom. It’s been quiet there for the past few years. Things have been pretty flat. The market hasn’t been that great, to be honest, but now things are really starting to pick up and it could be a good year to buy into downtown Mississauga once again, so keep an eye on that.

Next article is from Better Dwelling. BetterDwelling.com, looks like it’s a new site with new information and articles about the Toronto real estate market. One to watch, one to keep your eye on, so keep up the great work, folks, whoever is behind that site. It’s looking good. The article here is “Toronto Real Estate Saw Condo Inventory Decline by 56% in December.” 56% decline, so just hearing some incredible stats. Again, the market is so hot. We’ve been talking about this so much, but basically here’s a quote from the article.

“The whole TREB region had only 1,822 active listing, a 35% decline from the month prior, and a whopping 56% decrease from the same time last year.” Again, just incredible what’s happening. There’s just no supply. There’s nothing to buy. If you’re out there looking in the resale market right now, as we’ve got some clients doing, good luck to you. It’s very challenging to find a condo on the market right now, which we never thought we would say just a year or two ago.

One thing I disagree with is the next comment from this article. It says, “It’s hard to see prices moving higher at these levels,” assuming that they’re saying prices have already gone up quite a bit, “but as inventory becomes more scarce the possibility remains.” I would say the possibility is not, it’s not a possibility, it’s a fact. Prices are going to rise significantly in the resale market this year in the resale condo market because there is just nothing to buy. Prices are rising right now as we speak, as I’m recording this video, and they’re going to continue to rise because there’s just no supply and the demand is very strong. That is that article.

The next article is from Urban Toronto. UrbanToronto.ca, terrific resource, talking about “Tight Market, TREB Releases Q4 2016 Condo and Rental Reports,” talking about the latest stats from TREB for the last quarter of the year, and again, the story’s very consistent across the board. No matter what stats you look at, who you’re talking to, Urbanation, Altus, RealNet, TREB, you know, your Aunt Nancy. Whoever you’re talking to about stats on the condo market it’s the same story and that is that prices are rising quickly and the market’s very hot and there’s no supply.

Here’s a quote from the TREB president: “Gone are the days when we were concerned about a potential glut in inventory in the condominium apartment market. The supply concerns that have been top-of-mind for ground-oriented home types are also now a reality for the condo market segment,” so again this story’s consistent. We’ve seen this shortage of supply in the low-rise housing market for so, so long, and now we’re also seeing it in the condo market as well. Supply is a real issue. It’s definitely an issue if you’re looking to buy, it’s a challenge. If you’re looking to invest, it’s a great time to invest because you’re seeing your property appreciate overnight at the current pace that we’re in right now.

The last article that I want to highlight to you this week is from BuzzBuzzHome, so BuzzBuzzHome, great friend of the show as well and of True Condos. “How a Foreign Buyer Tax could make it even harder to find that elusive Toronto rental,” so talking about the rental market and how potentially if a foreign buyer tax similar to Vancouver came here. We have Shaun Hildebrand, our friend from Urbanation talking to BuzzBuzzHome and he says, “If there is a foreign buyer tax implemented in Toronto, it’s going to impact confidence. If condo investors and foreign buyers hold back on buying new units, inevitably yes, it’s going to restrict the inflow of new rental units into the marketplace,” so it’s a hypothetical question he was posed with, but basically saying if there was a foreign buyer tax or something that were to slow the market down in some way like Vancouver, what would happen with the rental market?

Again, it’s building that story that we’ve been seeing a long time basically saying that the rental market also is so strong, the resale market, the new condo market, and the rental markets are so strong, if there were anything to restrict new supply of condos coming onto the market further, then it would just create even more demand for rentals. It would put upward pressure even more so on rental prices and again, all this is good news if you are a condo investor, if you own condo today or if you’re planning on buying a condo this year. The future rental market is looking very good. If the condo market as a whole ever slowed down, if less condos were being built, you still have people coming to the GTA every year, more and more of them. Everyone needs a place to live, so condo rental prices just keep going up.

Okay, there you have it. That’s just this little video I wanted to shoot for this week. Thanks for watching and have a great week.