Realosophy Team in Media Roundup, Toronto Real Estate News
All you need to know regarding the housing market in Toronto, Canada and abroad.
This week in Toronto: Home sales plunge following foreign buyer tax, the flood of Toronto listings is not what it seems and homeowners are suddenly in a rush to sell.
Elsewhere: Canadian homeowners are worried about their mortgages, why more Americans aren't borrowing and those in the UK face shrinking properties.
Toronto
GTA Home Sales Plunge 26% Following Ontario Foreign Buyer Tax (Move Smartly)
Did the policy work? Since the tax was introduced on April 20th we have seen the number of sales of freehold houses in the GTA fall 26% during the one month following the introduction of the tax (April 20 – May 20, 2017 vs 2016). But when we dig further, we see that not all municipalities have had the same rate of decline in sales. The chart below compares the change in the number of sales by municipality.
Flood of Toronto listings not all that it seems (The Globe and Mail)
“We are seeing people who paid those crazy prices over the last few months walking away from their deposits,” said Carissa Turnbull, a Royal LePage broker in the Toronto suburb of Oakville, who didn’t get a single visitor to an open house on the weekend. “They don’t want to close anymore.”
How builders, city planners are trying to create more family-friendly Toronto condos (CBC)
With the average price of a detached home in Toronto well above the $1-million mark, the housing dreams of families like the Goodtimes wanting to live in the city have undergone a radical shift in the last 10 years — posing a challenge that developers and city planners are only just beginning to tackle.
As families flock to Leslieville, school board posts warning of overcrowding (Toronto Star)
But one of Toronto’s most family-friendly neighbourhoods may be a victim of its own success as signs from the Toronto District School Board have cropped up, warning parents in Leslieville their children may not be able to attend their local school because of possible overcrowding, school board spokesperson Ryan Bird confirmed.
Canada
Canadian homeowners’ mortgage worries highlighted in recent Manulife Bank poll (Global)