Hey Friends!

We are EXCITED to feel the warm weather and to see the beautiful trees and flowers blooming throughout the city. Neighbours are hanging out on their front porches again and we can’t help but notice that more people are smiling ?

The real estate market is active and homes are being bought and sold.

Let’s take a few minutes to give you another Real Estate update for May 2024.

The Government of Canada dropped a bit of a surprise on us all a couple of weeks ago in relation to Capital Gains Taxes in Canada. This resulted in a bit of a worried frenzy among investors, financial planners, and accountants. The toughest blow is that they aren’t giving our citizens much time to change their plans that have likely been in place for years.

In relation to real estate, if you dispose of your capital property that is NOT your principal residence, the current rule states that 50% of the gain is included in your taxable income.

The new proposed rule will be that 66.7% of the gain will be included in your taxable income, if the property is disposed of on or after June 25, 2024.

There are some differences between individuals vs. corporations and trusts. For individuals, the first $250,000 of a capital gain realized after June 25, 2024 will be taxed at 50% and anything over and above that will be taxed at 67.7%

We are seeing a lot of real estate investors rush to the market looking for a quick sale in order to avoid the increased tax.  If you own a secondary property, let’s take some time to do some quick math before making a snap-decision. 

Assuming that you are in the highest tax bracket at 53.53%, a capital gain of $350,000 would  result in a difference of approximately $9,000 more out of pocket with the new rules vs. the old ones.

Although it’s not ideal, it’s likely not as bad as it sounds. Where it will have the largest effect will be on people who have held an investment property for more than a decade who have realized a larger gain over time.

Now, don’t freak out! If you had no plans on selling your secondary property, it may not make sense to get it sold before June 25, 2024 (or maybe not even this year at all!). If it was on your radar to sell it this year, it may be worth getting it on the market and sold before June 25.

Just reach out! We are here to help you walk through all of your options. It would also be a great idea to touch base with your accountant and/or financial planner :) 

Remember, teamwork makes your real estate dream work!

The Buyers are out and the Sellers are more willing to list their homes for sale after seeing prices bounce back after the brief dip caused by the hikes in interest rates. April came and went and interest rates stayed the same. The next rate announcement is June 5th and there is plenty of anticipation on whether or not the Bank of Canada will start to drop the interest rates. We’re sure that a drop in rates would be welcome by many!

Year-over-year stats were relatively flat with slight increases of approximately 3% overall in the city of Toronto. We did however see a 6% increase in all home types in the city of Toronto comparing March/24 to April/24, which is not uncommon for a traditional spring market.

The number of sales were also down year-over-year which meant increased choice for buyers. This and an increased number of available listings has also helped to keep the prices flat.

Freehold homes continue to get more attention than the condo market, garnering more multiple offer situations and quicker sales. As always, a properly presented and priced property will still move in almost any market (we can help with this!)

Overall, we feel that this is a relatively healthy market and there isn’t as much tension compared to spring markets in recent years – a much more enjoyable experience for buyers and sellers.

Check out the April year-over-year stats below for more information on the current market. If you would like statistics specific to your neighbourhood, an updated Comparative Market Analysis for your home, or help deciphering what the numbers could mean for you, please let us know and we would be happy to provide that for you.

Welcome home to boutique urban living at unit 801 at 318 King St E, The King East, where style meets comfort in this impressive one bedroom condo. This residence offers an inviting open-concept living space with engineered hardwood floors, approximately 9-foot ceilings and stylish concrete accents, evoking a trendy loft-style ambiance.

The modern kitchen features full-sized stainless steel appliances, sleek stone countertops and a new subway tile backsplash. Floor-to-ceiling windows fill the space with natural light throughout the day with spectacular sunsets to follow in the evening.

The spacious bedroom boasts large closets for plenty of storage, engineered hardwood floors and frosted glass sliding doors. 

Spanning 600 square feet of wonderful living space inside, this residence also features a generously sized balcony with the convenience of a gas BBQ, perfect for outdoor dining, entertaining friends or simply unwinding while taking in the city views. 

Suite 801 also includes the added convenience of ensuite laundry, a large front hall closet and a locker.

Check out www.318king.com for more info and photos.

We have been blessed to have had the opportunity to help many of you and your people so far this year.

We truly appreciate your support and feel extremely honoured that you choose The TO Group to refer to your family, friends, and colleagues. Thank you!

Cheers!

Chris and Ford

The post May 2024 Market Report appeared first on Thurston Olsen Real Estate Group.

Here are 11 ways to improve your home’s value:

1. Organize your pantry and closets – consider donating the items once you’re able. We love Allan Gardens Food & Clothing Share
2. Sweep your entryway, deck, and walkways
3. Power wash your porch, deck, walkways, or fence – don’t spray the neighbour’s dog!
4. Clean your windows inside and out
5. Clean up around your property – rake leaves, pick up fallen sticks and branches, remove weeds, edge your lawn
6. Clean out your eavestroughs
7. Re-caulk around your shower, tub, and sinks
8. Patch any superficial cracks in walls and ceilings
9. Touch up paint, or completely repaint to freshen up your space
10. Clean the grout between your tiles – an old toothbrush is a great tool
11. Deep Clean! Do the stuff you never have time to: wash down cupboards, appliances, and baseboards. Clean the inside and outside of your appliances (dishwasher and washer too!)

Did you recently move? Here are 10 things to take care of in your new home.

The post How to improve your home’s value while in quarantine appeared first on Thurston Olsen Real Estate Group.

The Toronto Real Estate Board says home sales were up 17.4 per cent in December compared with the same month last year, while the average price was up almost 12 per cent in the month from a year earlier.

The December jump caps a surge in activity in the second half of last year, while a slower first half meant that overall 2019 sales were in line with annual medians for the decade.

The increased sales over 2018, even as new listings dropped 2.4 per cent year-over-year, helped push the average selling price for the year up by four per cent to $819,319. The average selling price in December was $837,788, up 11.9 per cent from a year earlier.

“We certainly saw a recovery in sales activity in 2019, particularly in the second half of the year,” said Michael Collins, president of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).

“As anticipated, many home buyers who were initially on the sidelines moved back into the market place starting in the spring. Buyer confidence was buoyed by a strong regional economy and declining contract mortgage rates over the course of the year.”

The region continues to struggle with an undersupply of housing, said Jason Mercer, TREB’s chief market analyst.

“Taking 2019 as an example, we experienced a strong sales increase up against a decline in supply. Tighter market conditions translated into accelerating price growth. Expect further acceleration in 2020 if there is no relief on the supply front,” he said in a statement.

For the year, condos saw the biggest price gains, up 6.4 per cent to an average of $587,959 compared with 2018, while detached home prices were up 0.9 per cent to an average of $1.02 million compared with the previous year. Condo sales activity was up only three per cent overall last year, while detached home sales were up 18.8 per cent.

For December, detached homes actually recorded higher price gains, up 11.6 per cent in the month to $1.05 million as sales were up 26.2 per cent from a year earlier. The average condo price was up 10.4 per cent to $612,464, while sales were up 6.9 per cent.

source – The Canadian Press, with a file from HuffPost Canada

Have questions about Toronto home prices? Contact Us.

Toronto Home Prices

The post Toronto home prices rise further in 2019 appeared first on Thurston Olsen Real Estate Group.

A recent poll found that half of Torontonians are hoping for house prices to fall, but a new report from Royal Bank of Canada basically says “don’t hold your breath.”

The modest price gains seen in Toronto and Vancouver in August are a “sign of things to come,” RBC senior economist Robert Hogue wrote in a client note.

After year-on-year declines for much of 2018, home sales in Toronto started rising again this summer. They were up 8.5 per cent in August, compared to the same month a year earlier, according to statistics released last week by the Toronto Real Estate Board.

After some downward pressure, prices appear to have stabilized. The average selling price for all housing types in Greater Toronto sat at $765,270 in August, up 4.7 per cent in a year.

“Area buyers hoping that last year’s Fair Housing Plan and this year’s stress test would bring about big price breaks will be disappointed,” Hogue wrote.

“In fact, several of them came to that realization earlier this summer (in light of steady month-to-month increases over the spring) and jumped back into the market.”

While that may be welcome news to homeowners worrying that the growth in the value of their homes has come to a standstill, it’s a disappointment to the half of Toronto residents who — in a recent Angus Reid poll — said they’d like to see house prices fall.

More than a quarter said they’d like to see an outright price crash, of 30 per cent or more. A majority of renters said they are considering leaving the citybecause of housing costs. That’s a sign of the frustration potential homebuyers are feeling in a market where house prices have long grown faster than incomes.

But though they hope for a correction, few poll respondents hold out hope it will actually happen. Sixty-two per cent agreed that government policy will not be able to make Toronto housing affordable “no matter what.”

Construction slowdown

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported a surprise decline in the number of new homes starting construction in August. The annualized rate of construction fell to just under 201,000 housing units, down from nearly 206,000 in July, according to data released Tuesday. Economists had been predicting a pick-up to around 210,000.

The largest pull-back was in Ontario, while British Columbia has seen a mild rebound, though construction is still below the frenzied pace of 2016 or 2017.

Economists expressed mixed views on the construction slowdown, with some saying the pace of construction is just returning to more sustainable levels from excessive heights.

“Despite two monthly declines, robust levels of residential construction continue in Canada, with a 27-year high for population growth supporting the strength,” Bank of Montreal senior economist Robert Kavcic wrote in a client note.

“While not all regions of the country have experienced the same price pressures as Toronto and Vancouver, many are seeing heightened building activity.”

But CIBC economist Royce Mendes suggested we can expect to see a somewhat slower housing market ahead.

“A more sluggish pace to homebuilding is in line with our expectation that higher interest rates and tighter lending standards turn this former stalwart of growth into a drag on the economy,” Mendes wrote in a client note Tuesday.

keep reading: toronto housing market has stabilized

source: huffington post

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Toronto’s housing market kept its footing August as sales gained while prices were little changed, continuing to stabilize after a turbulent year.

Sales jumped 8.5 per cent to 6,839 in August from the same period a year ago, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported Thursday and were up 2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis from July. Average prices rose 4.7 per cent from a year earlier to $765,270 but benchmark prices, which measure the value of a typical home, fell 0.5 per cent from July to $764,800.

The housing market in Canada’s biggest city has been stabilizing over the past few months, following a sharp plummet earlier in the year after various government regulations were implemented to rein in prices. The market began to crack in April last year after a foreign buyers tax was put in place but has recovered much of the decline over the past few months.

“Many home buyers who had initially moved to the sidelines due to the Ontario Fair Housing Plan and new mortgage lending guidelines have renewed their search for a home and are getting deals done much more so than last year,” Garry Bhaura, president at the housing board, said in a statement.

Detached homes lagged other housing segments in August, with the benchmark price dropping 1.9 per cent from a year ago to $914,900. Meanwhile, condo apartments led the price gains, jumping 9.9 per cent from last August to $505,500.

“Despite the fact the sales remain off the record highs from 2016 and 2017, many GTA neighbourhoods continue to suffer from a lack of inventory,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s director of market analysis. “This could present a problem if demand continues to accelerate over the next year, which is expected.”

New listings were up 6 per cent from a year ago to 12,166. Active listings rose 8.8 per cent to 17,864, from 16,419 last year.

source: london free press

lead image: Ford Thurston

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