Toronto: What areas are performing the best and worst in the GTA as realtors forge ahead in an uncertain landscape. Elsewhere: The Canadian dollar weakens, another U.S.-wide housing slump is coming, and China's housing market springs back to life.
Toronto
Best and Worst Performing Real Estate Markets in the GTA in the Corona Crisis (Move Smartly)
All buyers should exercise a bit more caution right now - for you, the risk is that you may find yourself overpaying for a home from one week to the next. In particular, you need to know where inventory levels are rising quickly - so you should be looking at comparable sales from the past week or two, not just from a month ago (which is the more common practice). However, here again, you need to be doing this in a careful way, so that you are not precluding the chance that there may be a real opportunity for you to act to your advantage.
Toronto Home Sales Drop 76% Amid COVID-19 Shutdown (Huffington Post)
“Based on the trajectory over the last couple (weeks) we will likely continue to see a downward trend in pricing during COVID-19. How far things will drop is hard to tell at this point. There is a high level of uncertainty across most sectors”
Realtors forge ahead in a COVID-19-tempered market (The Globe and Mail)
Paul Maranger and Christian Vermast of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada livestreamed an open house on Saturday at Mr. Maranger’s four-bedroom home in Toronto’s west end.
Will the coronavirus spur Toronto to solve its housing crisis? (The Globe)
In an interview Monday, Mayor John Tory said that the city is aggressively pursuing new modular-housing projects, using prefabricated units to quickly build supportive housing on city land for people who are currently underhoused. And he opened the door to a much larger program of affordable housing built through partnerships with both non-profit and for-profit developers.
Toronto restaurant owners say they cannot survive coronavirus shutdowns (City)
“I don’t think we will survive unless we get some sort of help from the government … I think provincially and federally they need to understand the impact on the hospitality industry,” she says. “I want to pay my landlord, he has bills as well … but I don’t know how that’s going to happen unless we, as small businesses, get some sort of stimulus package immediately to help do that.”
Canada
Canadian dollar weakens as coronavirus weighs on housing data (The Globe)
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, giving back some of the previous day’s gains as domestic housing data showed signs of economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak.
COVID-19: Vancouver real estate now a 'riskier' asset, causing mortgage rates to rise (Vancouver Sun)
“In the (2008) financial crisis there were different sorts of uncertainties around. They were economic, so you could understand a bit about what the phenomenon was. But with this it’s not the economy grinding down slowly; it’s not a financial panic, it’s not an economic shock. It’s a public health shock. That’s very, very different and we don’t know how it will be on the other side,” he said.
Canada Has Put Housing Markets On Life Support. Here’s What’s Happening. (Huffington Post)
Left to its own devices, a credit freeze would have made the current economic crisis much worse. With no mortgage lending possible, home sales would have collapsed and prices would have been in free-fall. And at a time when Canada is more dependent than ever on housing for its economic growth, the impact of a crash like that would be particularly painful.
USA
Frozen Housing Market Relies on Bargains and Desperation (Yahoo)
“If your house is on the market a buyer is going to assume it’s a sale by necessity,” said George Ratiu, senior economist at Realtor.com. “If you don’t have to sell right now, why would you? There will still be transactions, but the number will be so low.”
Another U.S.-Wide Housing Slump Is Coming (Bloomberg)
The recent reversal in the stock market has the potential to expedite the long anticipated “Silver Tsunami.” A June 2019 Fannie Mae report tallied the number of homes owned by boomers and the generation that preceded at about 46 million, more than a third of the 140-million-home housing stock.
31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’ (NY Times)
“Six weeks ago, you could name your price and you’d have multiple people applying,” said Mr. Brunner, who lives in Minneapolis, where he owns and manages 20 duplexes and triplexes across the city. “Now you’re deferring and working out payment plans, and it’s only going to get worse.”
For Roommates Under Coronavirus Lockdown, There Are a Lot of New Rules (City Lab)
As stay-at-home orders multiply and extend, and public health experts urge everyone to stop doing all but essential outside tasks in order to flatten the curve of coronavirus infections, the home has become the new locus of nearly everything: It’s your office, gym, restaurant, bar, cinema, and social club. Everyone who is lucky enough to have a house or apartment is there nearly all the time, or should be. That means spending a lot more time with the people inside it, or alone.
International
China’s housing market springs back to life as sales in 30 major cities triple with coronavirus crisis abating (South China Morning Post)
Transactions in at least eight large cities – Shenzhen, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Huaian, Yangzhou, Jiaxing, Shantou – indicated buyers have returned in recent weeks, with volume surpassing the average levels in the final quarter of 2019, according to China Real Estate Information Corporation (CRIC).
Amsterdam to embrace 'doughnut' model to mend post-coronavirus economy (The Guardian)
“I think it can help us overcome the effects of the crisis”, said Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, Marieke van Doorninck, who joined Raworth in an interview with the Guardian via Skype before the launch. “It might look strange that we are talking about the period after that but as a government we have to … It is to help us to not fall back on easy mechanisms.”
Top Photo Credit: Getty-istock/Debra Lee Wiseberg
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.
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April 11, 2020
This Week In Real Estate |