The Toronto housing market is in its last stretch before buyers and sellers call it quits for the holidays. While activity and new listings will likely pick back up in January, as real estate ambitions are renewed for Toronto homes for sale, this is a much quieter market compared to last month, not to mention last year.
Half as few detached homes (50 per cent) sold this week compared to November, and 25 per cent below what was sold last year. Semi-detached and townhomes both experienced monthly declines of 62 and 68 per cent. Year-over-year, the same markets fell 44 and 67 per cent respectively. Even the condo segment, which has been the strongest performer in 2018, has fallen 32 per cent from last month and cooled 6 per cent from the same time last year.
Much of this annual slowdown can be attributed to the impact of federal mortgage rules introduced at the start of 2018; not only do today’s buyers have less purchasing power as a result of stricter mortgage qualification hurdles, but 2017’s December market was unusually hot as buyers rushed to close deals before the requirements took effect January 1st.
