Don't Buy a Home Without Knowing This
After studying housing markets for two decades, I have learned that making better real estate decisions is not about luck, or timing, or wealth.
After studying housing markets for two decades, I have learned that making better real estate decisions is not about luck, or timing, or wealth.
Special Report: Toronto’s twenty-year housing boom has resulted in a negative side effect that homeowners are starting to feel – very high debt levels.
Housing markets are notoriously difficult to predict - but data can help home buyers and sellers answer some critical questions.
Will the Toronto real estate market return to previously seen highs - or has a major new road block appeared?
When will innovative Toronto-area brokerages like Realosophy finally be able to share home sold prices with consumers online?
Why are so many homes sitting empty and why has the number increased over last year?
When we look at the number of properties that have been listed for sale in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) (including Toronto) since 2012, we see a very interesting trend.
The Canadian federal government introduced new mortgage rules in the fall of 2016 to combat rapidly increasing home prices - but have they driven up condo prices instead?
One of the questions I get often from buyers is how house prices can remain stable while sales are declining and inventory is increasing?
This time last year, nearly 1,000 Toronto home buyers and sellers suffered major financial losses - could they have done something differently or was it just bad timing?
With Toronto Area condo sales down 26% in April 2018, many buyers are wondering why the condo market is still incredibly competitive and prices are still up.
Today we're releasing a new report featuring my analysis of last year's real estate bubble - why it happened and how it affected home buyers and sellers in Toronto and the...
This time last year we published a report Freeholds on Fire: How Investor Demand for Houses is Driving Up Prices in the Greater Toronto Area which looked at how investors in...
The headlines and the recent numbers about the Greater Toronto Area’s real estate market have not been great this spring. Average home prices are down 14% in March and sales...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Condo Buying
Ryerson’s City Building Institute published an interesting paper this week that concluded that builders are not building...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Yesterday the Ontario provincial government announced plans to add more regulation to the practice of...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
If you’re considering buying a home in the Greater Toronto Area, it’s really tough to make sense of what is really happening in the...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Home Buying
In my last blog post (The GTA Neighbourhoods Home Buyers Should Avoid), I walked through a metric we use at Realosophy to...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Home Buying
I recently stopped by TVO’s The Agenda to discuss the latest market stats with the Toronto Star’s Tess Kalinowski, and...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Home Buying
“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful” - Warren Buffett
Acclaimed investor Warren...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The province of Ontario just announced that 4.7% of the 18,282 homes purchased in the Greater Golden Horseshoe between April 24th and...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News , Home Buying
If there is one part of the home buying process that all of Toronto hates – it’s when you have to compete for a home...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
On April 20th 2017 the Ontario government introduced their Fair Housing Plan which included a 15% tax on homes purchased by foreign...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The first half of 2017 has been a roller coaster ride for Toronto’s real estate market.
The first 3 months of the year were the most...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Ontario government has responded to the rapid growth in house prices and rents in the Greater Toronto Area by releasing what they...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The first week of April saw the number of new listings of freehold houses (detached, semi-detached and townhouses) surge 62% over last...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Toronto's real estate market continued to defy gravity in March when the average price for a home climbed to $922,757 in March 2017, a...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Last year I wrote about a trend I had been noticing in the Toronto area real estate market - whether at our office or at dinner...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
In the late 1980's economists Robert Shiller and Karl Case began to challenge the long standing assumption that all home buying...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Greater Toronto Area's real estate market is off to a very hot start in 2017. The table below shows the average price for a...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Earlier this month the Toronto Real Estate Board announced that the average price of a detached home in the 905 region was up 29.4%...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Home Buying
As I started my own home search a few months ago I found myself in an interesting position – for an owner of a real...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Torontonians have become so accustomed to hearing about how competitive the real estate market is and how quickly prices are rising...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Readers of this blog know that I am not one to call bubbles lightly (or every month for the past few years, like some). Something may...
Many research focused home buyers looking to make a smart home buying decision will often invest a lot of their time studying the average price per...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
If you're a buyer looking for a home in Toronto right now, you probably know first hand how competitive the market is. You are...
No home buyer wants to be the sad buyer in our chart below who bought their house at the absolute peak of a real estate bubble, just before prices...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Home Buying
For decades, real estate agents have been helping home buyers with the art of buying a home. They have advised them on...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Bubbles are always easy to call after the fact, but things are far less clear when you’re in one.
The fact that leading economists...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board published the results of a survey of recent and intending home buyers which reveals some interesting...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Below are my top takeaways for Toronto’s real estate market in 2015.
Record Sales
The GTA saw a strong increase in the demand for homes...
John Pasalis in Realosophy News
Really happy to be launching Realosophy Pro this week, our latest analytics product that shows past sale history, comparable sales and deep...
Purchasing power parity is an economic theory that helps us understand how overvalued or undervalued currencies are by comparing their currencies purchasing power for identical...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The average price for a Toronto home increased by 5% in September over the same month last year to $427,329.
You can see all the...
UPDATE - 12:18PM - Unfortunately, John's online chat with the Globe and Mail and consumers @ noon today was canceled due to technical difficulties at the Globe. But since...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
It was a relatively quiet August for Toronto’s real estate market with the number of sales for the month falling 22% over the same...
John Pasalis in Five Questions, Toronto Real Estate News, Mortgages and Finance
Editor's Note: "Five Questions For" is a periodic series in which Move Smartly bloggers get answers...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Editor's Note: Due to spam and trolling issues, Move Smartly's comments have been disabled. But we still want to hear from you! Please...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
Toronto home sales continued to slide in June. The Toronto Real Estate Board reported 8,442 home sales in June, a 23% decline over the same...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
In case you haven’t heard, we’re in a real estate bubble! Well, at least according to Toronto Life.
In their current Real Estate Issue,...
John in Toronto Real Estate News, Toronto Neighbourhoods
The slowdown in Toronto's real estate market continued in May with sales actually dropping by 1% over the same month...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
For the average home buyer, making sense of Toronto’s real estate market is not easy. We often read conflicting media reports about the...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
For the first time since 2008 the growth in new listings coming on the market in April exceeded the growth in sales. A significant turning...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
From the Teranet National Bank House Price Index:
Canadian home prices in February were up 9.9% from a year earlier, according to the...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
From the Canadian Real Estate Association's Press Release:
Homebuyers have more choice heading into the busy spring buying season, with new...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
Since May 2009 the number of houses coming on the market for sale in Toronto has been on the decline while the demand from buyers measured by...
John and Urmi in Toronto Real Estate News
Like many of you, we’ve been following the Competition Bureau’s decision to challenge the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA)’s MLS...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
It seems as though any time house prices are on the rise in Toronto, regardless of how modest the increase might be, Torontonians are...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Toronto and Vancouver have Canada’s hottest real estate market according to the Teranet-National Bank House Price figures released this...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The average price for a Toronto home increased by 4% in 2009 to $395,460, the 13th straight year house values have increased in Toronto.
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board’s November Market Watch report showed the first sign that some relief might be on the way for Toronto...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Home Buying Tips
The Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) recently published a brochure with some consumer focused information about...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Real Estate Trends
In case you missed the headlines earlier this week, after a two-year investigation into Canada’s real estate brokerage...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Toronto real estate prices increased by 9.4% in just four months according to the Teranet National Bank House Price Index.
The House...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
There are a lot of factors at play when it comes to the current shortage in housing supply that we are seeing in Toronto.
From...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board released their monthly Market Watch report yesterday and the numbers aren't very encouraging. We are...
John Pasalis in Home Buying Tips
My last post on multiple offers sparked reaction from agents and consumers alike. As a follow up, I’ll consider these comments and further...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board released their monthly Market Watch report for August showing 8,035 home sales in August - a 27% increase...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board reported a record 9,967 resale home sales for July, a 28% increase over the same month last year. ...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
When Toronto’s real estate market started to pick up in April it was encouraging to see that many Toronto home buyers were taking a very...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board reported 10,995 sales in June 2009, a 27% increase over the same month in the previous year and the...
John Pasalis in Home Buying Tips
When buyers decide to make an offer to purchase a home their real estate agent typically includes two conditions in the agreement of purchase...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
From the Canadian Real Estate Association's Press Release:
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National...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area increased by almost 2% to 9,589 in May 2009, the first monthly increase since December 2007. ...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Condo Buying Tips
Toronto’s condo market is on solid ground according to a recent research paper published by Scotiabank Economics. ...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) recently released two new commercials as part of their "How Realtors Help" ad campaign. I ...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
February 2009 marked the sixth straight monthly decline for the Teranet National Bank House Price Index for Canada. Canadian home...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The overall mood about the current state of Toronto’s real estate market typically depends on the two most commonly reported statistics...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board released their March sales statistics yesterday and they appear to be encouraged by the fact that sales...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Canadian home prices fell 2.4% in January 2009 led by declines in Calgary (-8.2%) and Vancouver (-4.2%). The Teranet-National Bank...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board reported 2,565 transactions in the first half of March 2009, a 19% drop from the 3,183 transactions...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The recent slowdown in Toronto’s real estate market has left many people wondering where the market is heading leading up to the busy...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Fellow real estate blogger Richard Silver has the inside scoop on TREB's February sales statistics.
The Toronto Real Estate Board...
John Pasalis in Leslieville, Urban Issues
The Ontario Municipal Board has decided that big box stores anchored by a Wal-mart have no place in Leslieville. The board said that...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Canadian house prices in December 2008 were down just .6% from a year earlier, according to the Teranet-National Bank House Price Index...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
In the past 18 months 700 Ontario homes have been insulated with a prohibited type of insulation called urea formaldehyde-based thermal...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Under normal circumstances, a 26% decline in real estate sales is not something to be excited about. But these are not normal...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Over the past couple of months the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) has issued a freeze order, freezing the accounts of three...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board reported 3,433 condominium rentals in the Greater Toronto Area from September to December 2008, a 30%...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Canada's Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC) was introduced as part of the 2009 federal budget and was just one of several measures...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Toronto real estate sales declined by 50% during the first half of January 2009, continuing a sales slide that started in October 2008.
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about a new Canadian House Price Index launched by National Bank and Teranet. I thought I would...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Using a simple average to measure the change in real estate values can present a number of problems. I have covered these issues in ...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
RBC Economics says that Canada is experiencing a “Canadian-style” housing downturn but will avoid a US style housing market crash. The...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board recorded 3,640 sales in the Greater Toronto Area for November 2008, a 50% decline over the 7,313 recorded in...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
For the past couple of months I have been cautioning our readers against making any big conclusions about Toronto’s real estate market...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
For those who missed the headlines last week, the Toronto Real Estate Board announced their bleak sales figures for October 2008. The...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Condo Buying Tips
In May of this year the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released an optimistic report on Toronto's...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The average price for a home in the city of Toronto dropped by 15% during the first half of October, eclipsing the 6% decline we saw...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Condo Buying Tips
The past ten years have been kind to home buyers and real estate speculators who invested in pre-construction...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
After a slight decline in new listings in August, we saw new listings climb 19% over 2007 levels in September and 6% over the volume we...
John Pasalis in Real Estate Trends
CEP News interviewed me several weeks ago for a story about a home buyer who decided to purchase a house with a rental unit as a way to spend a...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Toronto’s real estate bubble in the late 1980’s left a grave mark on the city. Those who didn’t lose money in the bubble probably knew...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Real estate sales in the Greater Toronto Area for the first half of September declined to 2,726 a 16% drop over the record set during the...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
In April of this year I indicated that my outlook for Toronto’s real estate market was neither bullish nor bearish. I said that...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
When I reported last month that real estate prices increased by just $298 in July 2008, I wondered when Toronto would see its first...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Many of our readers have been a bit concerned about the rise in inventory (homes available for sale) in Toronto’s real estate market. ...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
When economists see a significant and sustained deviation from recent trends in data, they try to find the factor(s) that may have...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Updated (3:49pm 8/14/2008) :The Toronto Real Estate Board’s Market Watch reports for May and December of 2007 incorrectly swapped the...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Some interesting numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board this month.
The average sale price for a home in the City of Toronto last...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
A few months ago I did a live online Q&A on globeandmail.com where I had the opportunity to answer questions about Toronto’s real...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Last week we released our Q1 2008 Move Smartly Housing Report which offers a detailed summary of real estate sales by neighbourhood. ...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
One of our reasons for launching realosophy.com was to educate consumers about some of the not so nice things that can go on in the real...
John Pasalis in Real Estate Trends
I am a pretty loyal user of Google Maps but over the past few months I have been using Microsoft’s Live Maps when I want to map houses or...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The latest numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board:
Download the Complete Market Watch Report
The trend toward more balanced market...
John Pasalis in Real Estate Trends
The Globe and Mail interviewed me for an article published this weekend about a local real estate site called Housing123.com that the...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The story for Toronto’s real estate market continues to be consistent half way through June. Prices continue to rise and sales...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board recorded 9,411 sales in the Greater Toronto Area in May 2008, a 16% decline over last year. Prices...
John Pasalis in Real Estate Trends
I just came across a Forbes article covering the world's first billion dollar home. The home is being built for Indian billionaire and...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Condo Buying Tips
Last week I raised a couple of concerns about a recent Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) report that...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board released their sales figures for the first half of May 2008 and the statistics continue to show a softer...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Two housing reports released this week have been making headlines across the country. The reports from Scotiabank and CMHC are...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Earlier this week Realosophy.com released their first Quarterly Move Smartly Housing Report to subscribers.
The Realosophy team is...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board released their sales for April 2008. It wasn't much of a surprise to see that sales declined 7% in April...
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News
Last Friday I was invited to answer questions about Toronto’s real estate market in a live online discussion on globeandmail.com. I...
John Pasalis in Money, Home Buying Tips
Last week, the Toronto Star’s Ellen Roseman wrote an article titled 40-year Mortgage Comes with Hidden Hazards. On Move Smartly, we...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
There were a couple of reports yesterday that are sure to make the average home buyers head spin.
While the Toronto Real Estate Board announced a...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
Here are the latest numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board.
Low inventory levels kept the Greater Toronto Area resale housing market brisk but...
John in Home Buying, Home Selling Tips
Multiple Representation (also referred to as Dual Agency) can occur when one agent represents both the buyer and the seller in a real estate...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
The Toronto Real Estate Board released their statistics for the first half of March and it's no surprise to hear that sales in the GTA are...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
Here's is the latest press release from the Toronto Real Estate Board:
Resale home transactions in the Greater Toronto Area continued at a...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
There’s a new book on the market that is sure to satisfy Toronto real estate bubble theorists. While I haven’t read it yet, recent media...
John in Condo Buying Tips, Legal
A couple of months ago, CBCs’ Marketplace had a great feature that highlighted many of the problems that buyers of new condominiums are faced...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
Real estate sales rebounded slightly in the second half of February according to the Toronto Real Estate Board. Resale sales were down 14%...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
Urbancorp, the developer behind West Side Lofts and Bridge Condos, is Toronto’s first condo developer to leverage Facebook’s new advertising...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
Any time a realtor represents a family member in a real estate transaction, this relationship must be disclosed to all parties involved. Being...
After months of work, I’m excited that the Realosophy team has added some great updates to our site. One of our goals when we first started was to help...
John in HomeBuying, Money
With all the news about interest rate cuts recently, many home buyers are wondering if now is the right time to go with a variable rate mortgage. The...
John in Home Buying, Toronto Real Estate News
In a previous post I addressed the one question that’s on most first time buyers minds; is now the right time to buy my first...
John in HomeBuying, Toronto Real Estate News
It’s a tough time to be a first-time home buyer in Toronto. Toronto’s eleven year real estate boom has left many first time buyers...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
REM, a Canadian real estate industry publication, reports that discount brokerage Realtysellers is suing the Toronto Real Estate Board for $41...
John in Home Buying, Legal
Multiple offers on homes are a common occurrence in Toronto’s hot real estate market. For those unfamiliar with the dynamics of a multiple offer, go...
John in Home Buying, Media Roundup
Home Information Packs (HIPs) were introduced in the UK this past summer as a way to improve transparency in the HomeBuying process. HIPs...
John in Money, Media Roundup
Rob Carrick from the Globe and Mail had a great article last week that highlighted the effects the US subprime mortgage collapse is having on...
John in Condo Buying, Toronto Real Estate News
Now that the dust has settled on the insanity that was the 1 Bloor broker preview, we can start asking what the future holds for...
John in Home Buying
Real estate agents have a saying; a well-listed property is half-sold. The term ‘well-listed’ refers to the information the listing agent entered into the...
John in Toronto Real Estate News, Home Buying
The victims of a phantom (or fake) multiple offer recently came forward to tell their story to Toronto Star reporter Gail Swainson....
John in Toronto Condos and Lofts
idea At a Glance
Neighbourhood: Long BranchTotal Suites: To be announcedExpected Occupancy: December 2009Developer: Queenscorp Residences...
John in HomeBuying, Money, Toronto Real Estate News, Real Insight
Ed note. Real Insight is a periodic feature decoding some of the many mysteries surrounding HomeBuying.
Some...
John in HomeBuying, Money, Lifestyle, Real Life
Ed note. Real Life is a periodic feature detailing stories about the situations HomeBuyers encounter in the real world.
A...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
Here are the latest housing stats, in the words of the Toronto Real Estate Board:
September 20, 2007 -- With 3,236 sales so far this month,...
John in Realosophy News, HomeBuying
The absence of consumer protection in the real estate industry was one of the main reasons our team started Realosophy. HomeBuyers are the...
John in Money, HomeBuying, Real Insight, In the News
Ed note. Real Insight is a periodic feature decoding some of the many mysteries surrounding HomeBuying.
Last weekend’s...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
Here are the latest housing stats, in the words of the Toronto Real Estate Board:
August 2007 became the fifth record-setting month in a row,...
John in HomeBuying, Toronto Real Estate News
Talk about real estate in Toronto usually centers on the city’s booming housing market. For the past seven years, we’ve been...
John in Toronto Real Estate News, Legal
An article in the Globe and Mail this weekend tells the story of a handful of investors who pre-purchased condominium suites at the now...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
I came across a New York Times article this weekend that outlines the lending practices of one of the US's largest mortgage lenders, Countrywide...
Rezen is a new condominium project currently under construction at the corner of Frederick and Adelaide, just west of Sherbourne. This condo is a short walk from...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
The persistence of Toronto’s red hot real estate market has left many HomeBuyers wondering if things are ever going to slow down. The US real...
John in Real Insight, HomeBuying
Ed note. Real Insight is a periodic feature decoding some of the many mysteries surrounding HomeBuying.
A couple I know was recently given the...
Rumor has it that Boutique Condos will be adding an additional 16 floors on top of its Phase 2 condo at the corners of Nelson and Simcoe in Toronto's ...
John in Toronto Real Estate News
New stats reveal that Toronto’s red hot real estate market is showing no signs of slowing down. July’s 8,912 total sales is a 26 percent increase...
Five short years ago, the only reason most people were driving by the corner of Cherry and Mill streets was to get to a Toronto landmark, the Canary Restaurant...
John in HomeBuying, Toronto Real Estate News
An article in the Toronto Star this weekend highlights one HomeBuyer’s experience competing in four bidding wars (multiple offers)....
John in HomeBuying
Many HomeBuyers have a difficult time deciding on the type of home and neighbourhood they want to live in. Couples often have an even harder time because both...
John in Real Insight, Money, HomeBuying
Ed note. Real Insight is a periodic feature decoding some of the many mysteries surrounding HomeBuying.
Earlier this month, I came across...
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