In early March, a two-bedroom semi at 87 Berkshire Avenue sold for $286,000 over the asking price after spending about 24 hours on the market. Listing agents Shane Little and Jenny Simon tell STOREYS that they had 30 showings booked for the property in South Riverdale, but ultimately went with a bully offer of $1,435,000.
The success of 87 Berkshire isn’t unheard of, but it’s also not representative of what’s happening throughout the Greater Toronto Area. The latest numbers from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) show that there were just 5,011 sales reported last month, making it the slowest March in 27 years. Meanwhile, there were 17,263 new listings, putting the sales-to-new-listings ratio at 29% and indicating that the market is firmly in buyers’ territory.
In a slower market, pricing is everything, and 87 Berkshire is an example of a property that was priced to “cut through the noise.”
“We had felt the value range of the property was between $1,350,000 to $1,400,000… and we noticed that a lot of properties that kind of had that same value range were listing around $1,200,000 and holding back,” says Little.
“But what we had felt from our buyers and from talking to our colleagues in the neighbourhood was that there was almost a buyer fatigue at that point, because those properties have been doing it for four to six weeks and buyers had kind of seen everything listed at $1,200,000. So we wanted to be a little bit more aggressive, pricing at $1,150,000, to create a little bit more excitement and get someone to act quicker.”
87 Berkshire Avenue/Sage Real Estate Ltd.
87 Berkshire Avenue/Sage Real Estate Ltd.
Beyond the pricing strategy, Little shares that they opted to get a laneway study done as a way to show and add value, and that revealed that the property could accommodate around 608 sq. ft plus a garage.
“It's technically a two-bedroom home because two bedrooms are on the second level, but there's also one the basement,” he adds. “So we also positioned it with our listing description to attract people looking for a three-bedroom.”
Certain price-points are performing better than others right now. According to TRREB’s March data, there were 845 sales between $1,000,000 and $1,249,999, and 608 sales between $1,250,000 to $1,499,999, which means around 29% of total GTA sales were in the $1,000,000 to $1,499,999 range.
Detached homes are also selling better than any other housing type, accounting for 43% of total sales last month with 2,155 transactions reported. Semi-detached homes accounted for just under 10% of total sales in the GTA, but Little notes that in the city, semis that have been priced right and staged well are getting plenty of traction.
19 Rosemount Avenue was listed at $1,495,000 and sold for $1,900,000 in late January/Heaps Estrin Team
19 Rosemount Avenue was listed at $1,495,000 and sold for $1,900,000 in late January/Heaps Estrin Team
19 Rosemount Avenue/Heaps Estrin Team
The same goes for neighbourhoods: some are an easier sell than other.
“There are many first-time buyers trying to get into the housing market. For that reason, entry-level neighbourhoods are seeing high demand, like Wychwood, Roncesvalles, Leslieville, Riverdale, Humewood, and Regal Heights,” says Toronto agent Amanda Gaskey.
In late January, Gaskey secured the sale of 19 Rosemount Avenue a two-and-a-half storey, three-bedroom in in Wychwood. It sold for $405,000 over asking after six days on the market. Gaskey hosted two open houses that brought in over 100 potential buyers and had 64 showings that resulted in nine offers.
In terms of strategy, Gaskey leaned into the first-time buyer angle. In addition to the three bedrooms, there was potential for the second-floor family room to be converted into a fourth bedroom, the benefit to buyers being that the home would be able to “grow with them over time.”
“We continue to see some luxury sales at Heaps Estrin — not high volume and they aren’t moving as quickly as they have in recent years when the market was outperforming, but we have a number of high-end properties that are seeing multiple offers within the first couple of months,” Gaskey adds.
12 Stephenson Avenue was listed at $999,000 and sold for $1,246,000 in early March/Sage Real Estate Ltd.
12 Stephenson Avenue/Sage Real Estate Ltd.
12 Stephenson Avenue/Sage Real Estate Ltd.
In late February, agents Sarah and Fiona Carver (The Carver Twins) put 12 Stephenson Avenue on the market and seven days, 16 showings, and three open houses later, the two-bedroom, “oversized” semi in East End-Danforth sold for $247,000 over asking. The list price, at $999,000, was in line with similar homes in the area — just down the street, 38 Stephenson was also listed at $999,000 and 42 Stephenson was listed at $989,000.
(Fiona) Carver says that in today’s market, it’s important for properties to be as turnkey as possible, something there was less emphasis on when the market was more competitive. “Because of it being a slower market, buyers have choices, and you don't want them to have any strikes against you,” she adds.
With 12 Stephenson, Carver had her clients fine-tune even the small details; she had them upgrade light fixtures, repair damaged eavestroughs, and replace old electrical outlets.
“Even a window opener that might be kind of damaged, that should be fixed, just so you're not giving people a chance to say, ‘Well, we'd have to do this and this and this,’” she says. “The more you do as a seller, the more you get back, because it shows buyers that you care about the product. If they see one little thing that's off, they might wonder what else is off.”
To that point, Simon underscores that “the devil’s in the details.” With 87 Berkshire, they spent four to six weeks preparing the property to go to market — time that ended up being well spent.
“Right now, buyers are noticing if grout’s missing or caulking needs to be done or if there's a scuff on the wall — they are being very discerning. And so a property has to be presented fully turnkey for you to get that fast result, to sell high and quickly,” she says.
