Time for your cheat sheet on this week’s most important stories.
Canadian Real Estate
Canadian Real Estate Prices Surge In Growth… Except For Condos
Canadian real estate prices have been rising rapidly… except for condo apartments. The aggregate benchmark price of a home hit $643,000 in October, up 10.86%. Breaking it down by major segments, single-family homes hit $701,400, up 12.87% over that period. Condo apartments hit $477,900, up 5.68% from last year. While single family prices have seen price growth accelerate since spring, condos have seen prices fall since then.
Toronto Is The Second Coldest Market In Canada, As The Country Goes House Horny
Canadian real estate markets are so tight, some of the biggest markets look well supplied. Vancouver and Toronto are the fifth and sixth fastest cooling markets in the country. Montreal on the other hand, is heating up at the third fastest rate.
Toronto And Vancouver Permanent Resident Declines Get Larger
Toronto and Vancouver are seeing permanent resident growth fall further. Toronto saw 12,775 permanent residents arrive in Q3 2020, down 63.88% from last year. Vancouver saw 3,870 in the quarter, down 69.16% from last year. Both markets had seen prices accelerate in part to large population growth. The dramatic slowing of permanent residents isn’t expected to recover for at least a year.
Canadian Business Closures Up Over 37% This Year, But Some Are Re-Opening
Canadian businesses have been closing rapidly this year, but many have reopened. There were 376,428 businesses closed from January to July, up 37.88% compared to the same period last year. Stat Can data shows half of the businesses that closed in March or April, have already reopened. This makes the impact of business closures somewhat difficult to assess. While there’s a lot closing down, it’s not clear how many will be able to re-open.
Canada’s Money Supply Is Growing At The Fastest Rate In Over 30 Years
Canada’s narrow money supply is experiencing very rapid growth. The M1+ gross reached $1.36 trillion in September, up 27.69% from last year. This is the type of growth rarely seen in an advanced economy. In fact, Canada hasn’t seen its money supply rise this quickly in at least 30 years.
Toronto Real Estate
Toronto’s Real Estate Board Tells Brokers Stop Showing More Than 2 Years Of Sold Data
Any Toronto real estate website showing more than 2 years of data, will stop doing so soon. The Competition Bureau forced TRREB to allow member brokers to show data on their sites. Now TRREB says they’re restricting display rules to just 2 years. This will limit the comparisons that can be made without the help of an agent. It also hides 2017 sales data — the year of Toronto real estate frenzy.
Toronto Condo Prices Down Over $20k From Peak, As Inventory Doubles
Toronto real estate prices have been on fire, but no one wants a condo — whose prices peaked in May. TRREB reported the price of a typical condo as $585,100 in October, and the City came in at $611,100. While these prices are still a little higher than last year, TRREB prices are down $22,500 and the City is down $16,200 since May. This is largely attributed to a sharp increase of inventory.
Vancouver Real Estate
Vancouver To Triple Empty Home Tax To 3% In 2021
Vancouver is tripling its empty home tax, in an attempt to make the city look housing friendly. Council voted to increase the tax on empty homes to 3% in 2021, up from the base of 1% in 2019. There will be a small step in between those years, with the tax rate increasing to 1.25% for the 2020 assessment year. The tax was found to be generally effective in adding more useful supply.
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