CONGRATULATIONS!

You (or your child) has graduated high school! Where to throw an amazing shindig? Here’s 5 venues that will transport you from those hallowed halls in style…

THE APERTURE ROOM

Aperture Room is a stylish event space located on the third floor of The Thornton-Smith Building in downtown Toronto. The name is derived from one of the building’s most prominent tenants, Toronto Camera, which occupied all four floors in 1966. The space features original exposed brick walls, three magnificent skylights, hardwood floors, plaster ceilings, LED lighting throughout and a refined heritage flare. Aperture Room also offers built-in AV equipment including state-of-the-art screens, projectors and architectural lighting, lending itself to all types of social and corporate events. The space can accommodate 120 guests for a seated event and 180 guests for a standing reception.

DISTRICT 28

District 28 is a boutique events company located in Toronto's iconic studio district. You can choose from three unique studios, an in-house screening room, restaurant, and reception area. The white, blank canvas of the event venue allows for your own creative input into hosting your own corporate event, high-end fundraiser, and more. 

GEARY LANE

Toronto’s hub for culture and creativity. Nestled away on a seemingly industrial stretch of Geary Avenue at Dufferin & Dupont, the Geary Lane studio is centrally located in an area of the city that is ripe with creative drive and youthful energy.

Housed in a 3000 square foot professional film studio and former recording studio, Geary Lane is a multi-purpose space that can magically transform to suit the needs of your creative projects. Whether you are looking for a state of the art location to shoot film or photography projects, a comfortable and accommodating space for intimate music or theatre rehearsals, or to educate the community through workshops, exhibits, or screenings, Geary Lane is the ideal space to let your creative ideas run wild.

THE COSTUME HOUSE

The Costume House is another venue situated in the Geary Avenue arts district. Originally built in the early 1900's by the Eaton family as a horse stable, this newly restored, turn of the century hard loft features a 13ft ceiling, original post and beam construction, textured brick, east-facing windows, and original oak flooring. This epic blank canvas provides the ultimate space for bringing your bespoke event creations to life. 

LONGBOAT HALL

Located in the uber hip West Queen West area, LongBoat Hall is part of The Great Hall. This lower level space offers over 5000 sq. ft of event space with 20 foot ceilings and cast iron beams. Grand, modern and classic all at once, this is a great venue for those who need to accommodate a larger crowd.

Oh the weather outside is frightful… but the Toronto market is actually doing pretty well. Contrary to some media reports, the Toronto real estate market is actually fairly stable at the moment. Though a lack of inventory is making it harder for buyers, the average sale price for the month of January has stayed fairly steady. For a full read on what’s been happening in the last month, check out the market update from our Chestnut Park’s CEO Chris Kapches…

2019 started positively, surprising many who were anticipating the double-digit declines that the Toronto and area residential resale marketplace delivered in November and December of last year. Although moderate, January delivered increased sales volume and average sale prices compared to January 2018.

There were 4,009 sales reported in January, a less than 1 percent increase compared to 2018, but an increase nonetheless. Encouragingly, January’s positive results were due to an improvement in Toronto’s 905 region. The Greater Toronto Area was dramatically impacted by the provincial foreign buyers’ tax and has lagged behind the Toronto 416 market since the spring of 2017. In January, the 905 region’s sales were up by 2.5 percent compared to last year, while the City of Toronto’s sales declined by 3.5 percent. The decline in City of Toronto sales was not caused by a decline in demand. Rather the decline was driven by a chronic shortage of supply. At the end of January, the Greater Toronto Area had 2.7 months of inventory, whereas the City of Toronto found itself with only 1.9 months of inventory. The difference in inventory is also reflected by the fact that sales in the 905 region took place in 33 days (an average), yet it took only 29 days for all properties in the City of Toronto to sell.

 Another positive aspect of January’s performance is the supply of new properties that came to market. In January, 9,456 new properties became available to buyers. This is a favourable 10.5 percent increase compared to the 8,561 new listings that became available last year. Entering February, active listings were slightly higher than last year. February began with 11,962 active listings compared to the 11,894 available last year. The bulk of these listings are located in the 905 region. OF the 11,962 active listings, 8,387, or more than 70 percent, are located in the 905 region.

January’s average sale price came in at $748,328, an increase of almost 2 percent compared to last year’s average sale price of $735,874. This is exactly the kind of increase that reflects a stable and sound market, not the double-digit monthly increases that became commonplace in 2016 and early 2017. Double-digit increases in average sale prices become unsustainable and unfortunately can lead to painful corrections.

In this regard, Toronto’s high-end residential market continues to adjust. In January, 76 properties having a sale price of $2 million or more were reported sold. This compared to 90 reported sold during the same period last year. The adjustment is also evident in the sale price to listing ratio witnessed in January. Detached properties in Toronto’s central districts are the most expensive properties in the Greater Toronto Area. All detached properties in these districts sold for 95 percent of their asking price. This ratio was much lower than the detached properties in other trading districts. For example, all detached properties in Toronto’s eastern districts sold for 100 percent of their asking price. The fact that the average sale price in the eastern districts is half ($916,588) that of the central districts ($1,938,617) is no doubt responsible for this divergence. Higher-end properties accelerated more dramatically during the pre-2017 introduction of the Ontario Fair Housing Plan and are retracting proportionally, especially with the introduction of the 15 percent foreign buyers’ tax.

Condominium apartments continue to be the most affordable housing form, but again, because of supply, average prices continue to increase. In January, the average sale price in the City of Toronto increased by almost 9 percent to $591,444. In Toronto’s central districts, where most condominium apartment sales are located, the average sale price came in at $677,997, a 10 percent increase compared to last year’s prices. In January, there were only 1,738 condominium apartments for sale in the City of Toronto and only 1,093 in Toronto’s central districts where most sales take place. This shortage of supply will continue to put upward pressure on prices, constrained only by affordability.

Although it is a little early in the year to be forecasting for 2019, January’s results – sales volumes, price increases and increases in supply – all point to a healthy 2019. Last year only 77,375 residential properties were reported sold, the lowest number since the recession of 2008. Barring any unexpected economic events this year, we should see between 83,000 and 85,000 reported sales, with average sale prices increasing by about 2-3 percent. January’s average sale price came in at $748,328. Last year’s annual average sale price was $787,000. By year-end, Toronto and area’s average sale price should be approximately $800,000. From a long-term sustainability prospect, we should be thrilled with this number.

PREPARED BY:

Chris Kapches, LLB, President and CEO, Broker

Each week The Glenn Team provide highlights from the weekly CP office meeting to provide a balanced overview of the Toronto and GTA markets and relevant issues affecting real estate markets. Meetings are overseen by Chestnut Park's CEO and Broker of Record, Chris Kapches, LLB, who provides weekly analysis and commentary. Additional input is provided by the CP Toronto office Realtors who give a day to day, real life perspective of the local markets.

BACK AT IT

We took a two week hiatus from the weekly meeting posts as last week both Chris and Richard Stewart (on-staff lawyer) were away and the week previous, there was very little news of relevance beyond to us Realtors and Brokers.

We began this week as usual; with a few stats. If you don't receive our monthly market reports, you can see the latest infographic along with Chris' comments on our blog here.

Additionally, new data for this week is beginning to show the real discrepancy in the year over year statistics. With just over 1,100 properties sold so far this month, Chris expects this number to go to 2,200-2,300 by the end of the month; down 24% from February 2017. Though this reads dramatically, it should be restated that early 2017 saw the highest inventory and sales averages Toronto has ever seen, so it's not an overstatement to say that the market was inflated. That being said, this years numbers represent a more sustainable level of inventory. The primary reason for this decline outside of previous market data is that detached properties aren’t selling nearly as much as semi-detached and condominium apartments. As reported in the Market Update, the number of $2M properties sold is also down, and the average sale price in the 416 is still around $750,000 where last year's was almost $850,000.

No doubt up until May, when prices began to correct, we'll see lots of negative press about this, but the larger story is that the market is still going through a correction to achieving more sustainable numbers and that the 416 area is still experiencing growth, albeit at a slower pace.

CHMC SEES IT DIFFERENTLY

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation doesn't share our modestly positive viewpoint on the Toronto real estate market. It's latest Housing Market Assessment says markets like Toronto, Hamilton, Victoria and Vancouver are still being overvalued and are vulnerable to further price corrections. The report takes into account economic fundamentals such as personal disposable income and population growth, as well as price acceleration as it's indicators for the valuation. House prices in Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina appear broadly in line with fundamentals, but strong evidence of overbuilding is still observable. 

A NEW LEASE ON LIFE IN TORONTO

It was announced a couple weeks back that as of April 30th, 2018, a new standardized lease agreement for all rentals in Ontario will become mandatory. This new document will not be retroactive but will be required for anyone wishing to lease a residential property on or after April 30th. The new form virtually negates the use of any existing OREA Offer to Lease forms which could otherwise detail conditions that would contribute to the final lease document. Though the details are not 100% clear at this point, we expect that the new form will either be used as a schedule to an offer to lease or function as the primary document to facilitate the lease agreement. More information, as well as a link to the document itself, can be found on the Government of Ontario website.

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