Realosophy's John Pasalis talks to Yahoo Finance about why Toronto's real estate market broke records during what's usually a quiet holiday season.
Governments at federal and city levels have stepped in to make housing more affordable but home prices have continued to soar.
The rally is likely to continue, due to the factors such as vacant homes taxes, incentives for first time buyers, low mortgage rates, condos, bidding wars, the urban exodus, the effect of vaccine rollouts, and the Bank of Canada’s role.
Realosophy Realty President John Pasalis joins Jessy Bains at Yahoo Finance Canada in an interview to discuss, along with Oakwyn Realty’s Steve Saretsky.
Toronto Mayor John Tory makes a case for a vacant homes tax, wishing to make housing more affordable and encourage people to not leave homes vacant.
"[It's] better late than never. It probably won't impact the affordability too much in terms of the price of condos but may put more units into the rental market which will help the affordability of rentals in the short term," said John Pasalis.
The federal government is also stepping in with a fiscal update on incentives for first-time home buyers, increasing maximum home price and income threshold. Does this help first-time buyers get into the market?
"I don't think it'll get people into the market and have much impact. The big plus of the program is not needing to pay interest on the portion the government covers. But with [interest] rates at 1.6%, the mortgage payments are already quite low," said Pasalis.
Both John and Steve think the rally still has legs and expect to see strong markets in Toronto and Vancouver in the months to come.
Click on the video above to watch the full interview.
John Pasalis is President of Realosophy Realty, a Toronto real estate brokerage which uses data analysis to advise residential real estate buyers, sellers and investors.
A specialist in real estate data analysis, John’s research focuses on unlocking micro trends in the Greater Toronto Area real estate market. His research has been utilized by the Bank of Canada, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Follow John on Twitter @johnpasalis
Email John