GTA Tops NA Growth + Virtual Showings Become The Norm

In Toronto:  GTA pop growth highest in North America, buyers flock to cottage country as virtual showings increase in popularity.  

Elsewhere:  New CMHC requirements could lead to a rush on the market, Google to ban targeted housing ads, and the UK's virus recovery lags behind European peers. 

Toronto

GTA population growth topped Canadian and American cities in 2019 (Toronto Star)

“The data shows that Toronto was the fastest growing metropolitan area in Canada and the U.S. last year, overtaking Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington for the top spot,” they wrote in a blog on their findings.

Pandemic sends buyers scouring Ontario’s cottage country (The Globe)

As Ontario moves ahead with cautious plans to reopen the province’s economy and ease restrictions keeping people at home during the coronavirus pandemic, some residents of the Greater Toronto Area are looking north to the pristine lakes and tranquil forests of cottage country for a safe haven.

Nearly half of prospective home buyers willing to consider virtual showings amid COVID-19: survey (CP24)

Nearly half of Ontarians who plan to buy a home in the next two years say that they are willing to consider going ahead with a purchase even if they can only view the property virtually, according to a new poll commissioned by the Ontario Real Estate Association.

Toronto didn't issue any fines, despite nearly 180 short-term rental complaints during provincial ban (CBC)

But several residents at 300 Front St. say that those warnings weren't enough to stop short-term rental bookings from continuing in their building, which accounts for 20 per cent of city-wide complaints in the last two months.

Canada

New CMHC requirements will have buyers flocking to the market: brokers (Yahoo)

“Whenever there has been a deadline given for a major mortgage rule change,” Ron Butler, mortgage broker at Butler Mortgage, told Yahoo Finance Canada “there has been a distinctly accelerated pace of transactions prior to that change.” Butler described that this has been the case with any rule change that was not immediately invoked.

Home prices may not go down that much: Former CMHC chair (Bloomberg)

Robert P. Kelly, former CMHC chair and former CEO of BNY Mellon joins BNN Bloomberg to weigh in on the CMHC's decision to tighten mortgage rules, and provide his outlook for Canadian housing prices and the economy as we get through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Airbnb rentals are reverting to long-term housing. That may not change the affordability crisis (CityMetric)

"We are seeing a lot of inventory," says John Pasalis, a Toronto housing market analyst and president of Realosophy Realty. "[Since the start of the pandemic] a lot of sellers didn’t put their units on the market, but a lot of renters did. We saw strong listing growth, particularly in the downtown core." The oversupply there, he continues, has led to a 5% price drop on downtown rentals.

USA

Google to ban targeting housing ads based on gender, age (Reuters)

The new policy, which will go into effect by the end of the year, comes more than a year after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sued Facebook Inc for selling discriminatory housing ads and said that it was looking into similar concerns about Google and Twitter Inc.

The Stark Racial Inequity of Personal Finances in America (NY Times)

“The gap in the homeownership rate between black and white families in the U.S. is bigger today than it was when it was legal to refuse to sell someone a home because of the color of their skin,” the Urban Institute wrote.

The Housing Market Is Rebounding, But What Happens After Stimulus Support Measures Fall Away? (Forbes

Government measures have certainly been supportive of home prices and home sales during this crisis. If the fiscal stimulus is removed as scheduled at the end of July, aggregate spending will decline, which will result in an economic drag that could indirectly affect home buyers.

In expensive cities, the future of residential construction is deeply uncertain (CityMetric)

In Seattle, residential housing permits have yet to decline. “At this point, it’s still too early to know what the true impact of Covid-19 will have on market conditions,” says Moon Callison, a spokesperson for the Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections, “but we expect there to be some level of decline in the near future.”

International

UK’s virus recovery lags behind European peers (Financial Times)

Activity has been growing from a low in April, with higher retail and consumer spending, improved demand for housing, increased mobility and more businesses reopening. But the improvement has been gradual, with the UK lagging behind other main European economies — especially Germany.

India's richest city should have been its most prepared for coronavirus. So why does Mumbai have the country's highest infection rate? (CNN)

Those in the upper middle class can afford to live in apartments that offer a little more space and opportunity for social distancing -- but the city's daily life and businesses are so intertwined that even the wealthy can't escape the virus.

Top Photo Credit: iStock/Getty Images

Realosophy Realty Inc. Brokerage is an innovative residential real estate brokerage in Toronto. A leader in real estate analytics, Realosophy educates consumers at Realosophy.com and MoveSmartly.com and and helps clients make better decisions when buying or selling a home. 

Email Realosophy

This Week In Real Estate     |    

Toronto’s most authoritative real estate insights, delivered right to your inbox.