Finally, it looks like Toronto’s red-hot real estate market seems to have subsided. Or has it?

Much of the news of late has spoken to the “cooling” of Toronto’s housing market, which on the surface seems to be the case.

In April, the Toronto Real Estate Board started to see a surge in new listings hitting the market. This surge began before the anticipated provincial government announcement of their 16-point Fair Housing Plan (read about it here).

Early 2017 started off with a frenzied start and sales prices across pretty much all housing styles and price points were on fire! Most of the new listings that we have seen in April have come from Sellers looking to capitalize on the recent high sale prices from January thru March and I would suspect very few were actually related to the government’s announcement. After all, anyone who has ever sold a property before knows it’s not as simple as deciding within a day or two, “hey, let’s put our home up for sale!”

So along comes April with added “inventory” and sales volume down in comparison to the previous April, in which TREB foresees the decline attributed to Easter holidays falling into April of this where as last year they were in March. Mid-month numbers show about a 14% decline in transactions and an increase of about 25% in new listings. Both numbers are higher outside Toronto proper.

So what now? I for one think we are still in for multiple offers on properties that are desirable and priced within reason. This past week alone I’ve been involved in 3 sales (2 on the selling side) that have all sold above the asking price. 4th property Buyer clients of mine were prepared to offer on but it sold before the offer date for $241,000 above the $999,000 list price!

Confused, who wouldn’t be? The media says the sky is falling and prices are dropping. Not exactly true. What is happening is with all of the new listings on the market Buyers finally have more inventory to look at, and the sense of urgency is not as high. Some Sellers (and their agents) haven’t caught up with the current market and expectations haven’t been managed on what to expect when selling over the past few weeks.

Buyers whom have been looking and realize that there’s opportunity to pounce, are snatching up properties after years of heated competition. I sold a house recently where my Seller clients received $222,000.00 above our listed sales price, and the Buyer was thrilled about it according to his agent!

Being educated about the housing market and maintaining a strong vision, are paramount to the success of both Buyers and Sellers in a time of uncertainty. Just make sure that you base your decisions and get your facts from a trusted source, and act according to the market you are in.