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.

MARKET STATS

As mid-month stats are still unavailable from TREB (see our previous post regarding that), Chris has continued to prepare his own stats within the 416 districts. The average sale price has moved up to $862,000, for a 7% increase in average sale price since October 2016. We’ll have to wait until next month to see whether that number will be reflected throughout the GTA, but odds are good, it will be below that mark as the 905 properties will likely continue to be undervalued. The number of sales for the month are also down from last year by about 22% which is a shorter gap from the 35% we experienced in previous months. All of this would indicate a better and more balanced market moving into 2018. Anecdotal information from CP Toronto reps also indicates a lot of activity in central and eastern districts.

STRESS CASE

It’s now official that the newly proposed stress will be instituted come January 1st, 2018. What does this mean for potential buyers or those looking to trade-up on their existing property? Chris did a basic scenario to arrive at some numbers. Assume you’re looking to purchase a $900,000 property and have a $400,000 down payment; far past the 20% requirement. A typical 5 year fixed rate would likely amount to a monthly payment in the $2,500 area and require your yearly income to be around $95,000. Under the new rules that same buyer is required to qualify at their broker contracted rate + 2% or the Bank of Canada benchmark rate (around 4.89%), whichever is the greater of the two rates. That difference in rate would require their mortgage payment to go up $3,295/mo. and require their yearly income to be $112,000. That’s about a difference of 20%. 

Does that mean we should expect 20% of the market to simply disappear? Both Chris and Darlene Hanley (of The Hanley Mortgage Group) say no. They claim that the majority of buyers or re-financiers that can already afford 20% or more of their down payment can already cover that difference in cost. Who will be affected however? Most experts feel that it will be the buyers looking to move up to a larger, more expensive property. This new test will likely dissuade them from looking to buy or force them to buy something that is more within their means and will lower their potential debt load risk. We’ll have to wait until next year to see how much, if at all, this affects prices and activity the marketplace. 

CASE IN POINT: A Case Beyond the Pines... or Cedars

Chris brought to light a court case, which isn’t often discussed, as it rarely goes to litigation. This case relates to trees on or over property lines. In this case, the defendant, a neighbour to a property with cedar trees along the property line, trimmed and cut down some of the cedars to erect a fence, so no further trees would impact on his property. Under the law (excluding any towns’ particular by-laws) you are allowed to trim any portion of a tree that encroaches on your property but may not affect the roots of that tree. The case went as far as the court of appeals, who sided in favour of the prosecution, as the neighbour had no right to cut down any trees in erecting his fence and didn’t receive consent from the tree owner. A lesson learned for anybody with a neighbouring tree and a grudge.  

Have you got a grudge regarding the Toronto real estate market or a nasty neighbour? We'd love to hear from you. Either email us directly or use add a comment below.
 

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.

MARKET UPDATE

As our latest CP market report was just published, there isn't much to discuss related to market stats that was covered there or in last week's meeting. For more information on where the GTA markets are at, go to that post or subscribe to our neighbourhood house price reports. 

WORD ON THE STREET

A poll of the agents in the CP Toronto office revealed that the type of property as well as it's price range has a significant impact on the market's interest in it. For example, listings over the $2M price point in central districts have had little interest in the past week, whereas condo apartment listings in both eastern and central districts under $1M have had intense, fetching multiple offers. Clearly the more affordable condo apartments continue to be the market's hottest prospect currently. Though volume is up in the 905 area code, the 416 continues to come in at 25% of those numbers, with condo apartment inventory all but gone. 

TAX TALK

As agents in the Toronto office have found more foreign buyers coming back to the Toronto market, Chris felt it important to review who is affected by the recent foreign buyer's tax. Some of the most relevant points are listed below. For the full breakdown, click here

Doesn't apply to Canadian citizens or permanent residents, unless those parties are buying property with a foreign national. 

Who Does the Tax Apply To?

• Foreign Entities: Foreign nationals and not Canadian Citizens or Permanent Residents. 
• Foreign corporations: ie. corporations NOT incorporated in Canada or incorporated in Canada but controlled by foreign national or other foreign corporation (unless corporations shares are listed on the TSX.
• Foreign corporation controlled directly or indirectly by a foreign national for the purposes of the associated corporation rules under Canada's Income Tax Act. 

What Types of Properties are Affected?

• Single Family Detached, Semi-Detached, Condo Apartments, Duplexes, Triplexes and Multiplexes up to 6 units; over 6 units, no tax applies
• Each condo unit is considered a single-family residence so the tax applies to each one

How is the Tax Calculated?

• Any property is taxed at a rate of 15% including any Land Transfer Tax associated with the property, ie. if the property is located in Toronto, you would pay tax on both provincial and municipal land transfer tax. 
• If ANY buyers are a foreign entity, 100% of the property will be taxed, ie. you can’t purchase a property with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and avoid the tax. 

Who is Exempt from the Tax?

• Anyone confirmed under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program. If you can establish you’re a bonafide immigrant in theprogram or a student or WILL be a permanent resident in the next 4 years
• If you’re a refugee
• If you're a foreign national with a spouse who is already a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or a Nominee or a Refugee. 

 

STRESSED OUT!

Going into 2018, it is expected that the government will introduce new mortgage stress test rules. Under the new rules, people seeking a new mortgage will have to qualify at the bank posted rate, which would currently amount to about 5.25% for a 5 year rate; that's about 2% more than most lenders would currently require and amounts to about 6 rate hikes from the BoC. David Smith, a mortgage broker with Hanley Mortgage Brokers thinks this policy will effectively take buyers with the greatest stake in entering the real estate market out of the game. It will also likely negative influence anybody looking to make their next jump up to a larger property if they are already close to their mortgage maximum. In Toronto, this means any first time home buyers, likely entering the condo market, which is already under heavy stress for inventory.

Is this good policy or just the governments attempt at chastising banks and lenders? We love to know your thoughts. Either get in touch directly or leave a comment below! 

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.

MARKET STATS

The uptick in the average sale price continued through the month of September, giving further credence to what most feel is the end of the plateau and start of a rebounding market. Further support from Chris' stats (the TREB weekly stat filibuster continues) in the first week of October support this as well, as the average sale price in the 416 was around $831,000. The average sale price for the GTA for September was $775, 456, up 2.6% year over year, which would also support a rebound in the market. Average price breakdowns for the 416 based on housing type were as follows...

Detached Houses - $1,355,000 - 5.4% increase yr/yr - 
Semi-detached Houses - $935,000 - 5.2% increase yr/yr
Condo Apartments - $554,000 - 24% increase yr/yr

Prices in the 905 were much less dramatic however, with detached houses only going up by less than 1%. Sales volumes were down by 35% across the GTA, which seems like a high number but put into perspective, those numbers are coming from very high volumes seen in 2016. 61% of the sales that took place in September came from the 416 however, which also had less inventory than the 905, so it should be expected for prices to continue to climb going into 2018.

 

BUYER BEWARE

As we've mentioned, the psychology of the market may be just as important as the stats themselves, and media reports could go a long way to see this switch in the market's thinking. Chris cited this article from the Globe and Mail which, among some points already mentioned, discusses buyers coming back to the market now after having perceived the downturn to be over. Articles like this will likely cause buyers to promptly return to the market and could cause a dramatic uptick in prices yet again. Of further concern given all of these numbers and trends is that it's likely that OFSI will move forward with the new stress test rules. If you're considering buying in the 416, especially if a condo is the product you're after, we would urge you to get started today! 

 

IT'S ALL ABOUT BALANCE

Getting perspective on whether the market is balanced or not can be challenging. TREB using a 12 month moving average for month's of inventory -where balance is closer to 1.5 months- to determine whether the market is overheated or not. Chris prefers to use a standard average; where 3.9 months would be considered balanced or heathy. Despite how it's calculated, at the beginning of October, there were about 19,000 properties on the market, giving the 416 about 1.4 months of inventory and the 905 1.5 months. That's 17% more than last October's 11,000 but is still about 1000 listings off a healthier market in Chris' opinion. As we approach the end of year, we’ll be looking at overall sales be around 80-88,000. This is consistent with period b/w 2009-2013 before we saw numbers in the hundreds of thousands. 

 

EAST VS. WEST

Traditionally, Realtors and the public always felt there were better deals to be had in Toronto East end, but that seems to be less and less true, at least in the case of semi-detached properties. In the Eastern districts, all sales for the month of September came in at 104% of asking with an average of 10 days on the market. The average sale price for semi-detached properties in the East end was $872,326, vs. the Western districts which averaged $775,663. However, the average sale price for detached properties, which have great prevalence in the West, was $1,015,711 vs. $961,805 in the East. So clearly it's currently better to go West to buy a semi-detached property currently. Contrast that with condo apartments with sales prices on average being about $50,000 less on the East end than the West. For further contrast, the Central districts saw an average sale price of $615,654 for condo apartments. 

 

MULTIPLE REPRESENTATION STAYS UNIFIED

News regarding how the Ontario government will treat instances of multiple representation (where one Realtor represents both parties in a transaction) came back from OREA. The decision will keep in place the existing rules for how Realtors working with both sides to a real estate transaction are defined. Chris, OREA and most Realtors and brokerages see this as a win for both Realtors and the public. The alternative would have required that a second Realtor represent one side in the transaction so as to avoid potential conflicts of interest. However, that scenario could give way to Realtor alliances and potentially fewer buyers for those buying or selling in smaller, localized markets. The new legislation will allow one Realtor to represent both parties so long as informed consent is given on the part of the buyer and seller. It is expected that OREA will draft new forms to give consent in transactions requiring multiple representation. 

Do you feel like this was the right decision? We'd love to hear your comments!