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RedDoor Rundown
Here is a quick rundown on the weeks real estate news in Toronto...
Competition Bureau and TREB once again face off in Ottawa… over TREB’s anti-competitive conduct.
"I welcome today’s order by the Competition Tribunal requiring the Toronto Real Estate Board to permit member agents to use and display critical data on virtual office websites. The Bureau remains focused on ensuring that consumers benefit from innovation and competition in the provision of real estate services."
John Pecman, Commissioner of Competition
Read the notice here:
http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/04100.html
Realtors warn against raising Toronto’s land transfer tax
The city is looking to “harmonize” the land transfer tax on homes from 1% to 1.5% on properties valued $200-400k… and by harmonize, they mean match the Ontario tax of 1.5%... how harmonious (groan!)…
They city is also looking to increase the tax on homes over $2 milion (from 2% to 2.5%) and on properties over $40 million from 1% to 2%. Changes could happen as early as March 1.
Read the full article here:
Little Supply and rising prices leave little left for first time home-buyers
Supply is still controlling the market, with few homes and condos for would be buyers… pushing prices up even more. Further as the article states, “November was the first full month of the new mortgage rules… (including a new stress test)… but sales fell from October to November by roughly the same amount they do every year, suggesting little impact from the rules.”
Another interesting point in the article… verging on troubling actually… “Prices for condos in Toronto jumped 13.5 per cent to $471,256. With an estimated average household income of around $75,000, the average Toronto first-time homebuyer can get a five-year, fixed-rate mortgage of between $380,000 and $420,000 from major lenders today. That, plus the down payment, is the limit of what an average household can afford.
So for an average household to afford an average condo, they would require a minimum of around $50,000 down. And since the amount lenders will give borrowers rises with borrowers’ incomes — not house prices — any further price hikes will mean larger down payments.
This likely means that Toronto's home ownership rate is going to start falling, as some experts have predicted. A greater number of households will have to become renters for life, unless prices change direction.”
Read the full article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/12/03/condo-prices-toronto_n_13395896.html
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December 5, 2016 | Permalink
