drewp
Active Member
I take the TREB stats with a grain of salt. They like to spin every story making it look as the market is on fire. To be honest there could be many reasons for the 5.9% increase, but it is such a small sample that I think the market will be at best by the end of the month be flat compared to the year prior. What I like to do to come up with the current value, look at the exact same layouts that sold last year to this year. So if for example I will take a bachelor, 1 bedroom, 1 bedroom plus den, and 2 bedroom from a building last year, and look at the exact same building/layout this year and the numbers are 1-2% north or south. The numbers suggest a flat yoy. Some buildings defy this logic, but for the most part I am seeing prices pretty flat. Now for example I had a client buy a condo for $432,000 (parking and locker) in August which was an ugly time for condo market. The exact same unit a couple floors higher just sold for $427,000 (no parking and no locker). I let them know of this, and told them their condo was probably worth $450,000-460,000. The exact same unit sold in April 2012 (peak) for $460,000. Now I know that this is just a small sample, but it gives me an idea what is currently happening in this neighbourhood.
I think there might be another reason for the price increase--investors are renting out their garbage units instead of selling them knowing there is still a lot of competition, plus the rental market is still performing well. Although, I am noticing that I am not seeing the same sharp increase like last year, which could indicate that more buyers are back in the market. Expect a better second half, and by years end condo sales will increase from last year. But as I said before 2012, was a bi-polar year, that is why the TREB numbers are meaningless unless you decipher the whole market to understand its current state.
I think there might be another reason for the price increase--investors are renting out their garbage units instead of selling them knowing there is still a lot of competition, plus the rental market is still performing well. Although, I am noticing that I am not seeing the same sharp increase like last year, which could indicate that more buyers are back in the market. Expect a better second half, and by years end condo sales will increase from last year. But as I said before 2012, was a bi-polar year, that is why the TREB numbers are meaningless unless you decipher the whole market to understand its current state.