Buyers and sellers struggle in an uneven late winter market – The Globe and Mail

A renewed vitality in the Toronto real estate market is leading to rich rewards for some sellers and disappointment for others.

Robin Pope, broker with Pope Real Estate Ltd., describes the current action as volatile.

“The market is a lot better than it was in the fall. But it was near death in the fall.”

The imbalance stems partly from the fact that listings are limited at this time of year. Some buyers believe prices may have hit a trough after sliding through the fall and they are eager to buy before the next upswing.

Many potential sellers, meanwhile, are waiting to list until gardens bloom and prices rise.

Against that backdrop, strategies for listing vary widely and buyers struggle to gauge how aggressive they should be in the current market.

Mr. Pope has worked with buyers in recent weeks who have been outbid by rival bidders, while some properties set up for competition are not receiving bids on offer night.

In one case, Mr. Pope worked with a buyer who submitted an offer for a house with no staircase from the main level to the basement. The only entry to the lower level was through small exterior doors.

The downtown property was listed with an asking price of approximately $1.38-million

“Only a Hobbit could live in the basement because of these tiny little doors,” he says, explaining that he wasn’t expecting competition.

Nevertheless, the house drew eight offers and sold for $300,000 above the asking price.

In another scenario, Mr. Pope represented a buyer who submitted an offer for a hard loft near Euclid Avenue and College Street.

The unit was listed with an asking price around the $1.23-million mark and offers welcome any time.

Two more bidders quickly jumped in and the loft sold to one of the late entrants for $1.315-million.

“It sold for $14,000 more than we were prepared to pay,” says Mr. Pope.

Meanwhile, a renovated bungalow in Little Italy was listed with an asking price of $1.2-million and a deadline for reviewing offers.

The house did not sell on the offer date and was later relisted with an asking price of $1.45-million.

In Seaton Village, a semi-detached was listed with an asking price of $999,000 and sold for $1.35-million with 11 offers, Mr. Pope says.

Two days later, another semi in a better part of Seaton Village was listed with an asking price of $1.299-million and an offer date.

Despite many showings and two bully offers, the homeowner didn’t consider any of the bids acceptable and the house failed to sell.

“No one in the open market was willing to pay the seller what she wanted for her home,” Mr. Pope says.

Acting for a seller, Mr. Pope recently listed a three-bedroom, two-bathroom condo unit for sale in Corktown with an asking price of $1,599,990 and offers welcome any time.

“It’s priced to get attention,” he says.

One buyer did come to the table but the two sides were not able to reach a deal for unit 1212 at 32 Trolley Cres.

“There are some buyers who think we are in the market we were in the fall. They don’t care how well the property is priced, they still want to give you a haircut.”

Mr. Pope says the varying results illustrate how uneven the market can be. He expects it to remain that way for the next 12 months or so.

“No one really knows how long this is going to last or what it means,” says Mr. Pope. “I think, personally, this is somewhat short-lived because the inventory is going to grow. It always has.”

He adds that some buyers appear to have forgotten the pattern of the past two years, when sales ramped up through the spring and then cooled when June came around.

“It’s kind of like collective amnesia,” he says.

Mr. Pope believes one reason the market may falter is that many consumers still lack confidence because of today’s fairly high mortgage rates and the lack of affordability in the Toronto market.

The United States will be holding a presidential election in November, which often leads to tumult in financial markets. In Mr. Pope’s experience, the uncertainty often dampens real estate sales as well.

Other risks include the war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East, which in turn may have an affect on oil prices.

His advice to buyers is to remain conservative.

“My call would be, ‘tread carefully.’”

In East York, real estate agents Christine Breen and Robin Millar of Re/Max Hallmark Realty, drew 18 offers for a semi-detached house at 88 Linsmore Cres.

The three-bedroom house with an asking price of $1,179,000 sold for $1.5-million after five days on the market.

Ms. Breen says the property had a large number of showings as buyers began circulating again. She has noticed a marked uptick in activity since the Bank of Canada announced following a Jan. 24 meeting of the Governing Council that it was holding its key interest rate steady.

Buyers are jumping into competition in many neighbourhoods where supply is tight, she says.

Ms. Breen says homeowners often benefit by selling when there are few rival properties on the market, but if the sellers in turn need to find a new home they are going to be facing the same supply challenges.

Rishi Sondhi, economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, notes that sales have been rising faster than listings as listings remain below long-term norms in most provinces.

Sales in January were particularly strong in Ontario, he notes, with a 6.9-per-cent rise compared with December. The release of pent-up demand shifted the market very quickly from favouring buyers to a more balanced state, he points out.

The average home price in Ontario slid by 3.8 per cent in January from December, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Mr. Sondhi says one reason for the dip may be that sellers capitulated on their asking prices in a market that had previously been tilted toward buyers.

Nationally, the economist expects prices to rise as the balance between supply and demand remains tight, but severe deterioration in affordability in many cities should limit the potential for runaway growth, he adds.

Adblock test (Why?)

Source link