Why the number of Toronto property sales are at their lowest levels since 1998, and why the future looks brighter

Yes, mortgage rates are making it difficult to afford the home of your dreams (or for many first time buyers, any home at all). But if you can make the financials work, now is the time to pounce on a property.

Average home prices in the GTA are only down 8% since average mortgage rates started rising in March 2022, which are now roughly 300% higher; we find ourselves experiencing record unaffordability.

Changing course mid-career is daunting, rewarding, overwhelming, and sometimes straight-up weird. My takeaways from this major transition and whether or not I made the right decision…

Although rising interest rates are making buying even more unaffordable, interest rates are temporary. The price you pay for your home is permanent. As prices continue to come down this summer and into the fall. In the grand scheme of a 25–30-year mortgage timeline, it is still an excellent time to buy.

The average price of a home in the GTA (and most of Canada) has more than doubled in the last ten years causing home ownership to become out of reach for many Canadians. The 2022 federal budget unveiled last week proposes many changes that are, in theory, supposed to help moderate future price increases in the Canadian housing market. Here are the highlights:

Betting against the Toronto housing market has been a bad decision in recent history. We’ve come to expect that prices will steadily rise for what seems like the rest of eternity.  However, this upward trend has recently shifted to an all-out parabolic blast-off. It’s as if the market has no limits. Buyers have been fuelled by record low interest rates and kicked into competitive high-gear due to the record-low inventory levels, among other new factors brought into play as a result of the pandemic.  

Before venturing out to seek a pre-approval for a mortgage, many of us just want a general idea of whether or not what the real estate we’re hoping to purchase is even in the REALM of possibility. But the number crunching process can be a bit overwhelming sometimes, and there are many different costs and considerations to factor in.