What you need to know about Mortgages in Ontario right now
There is a lot of confusion in the Toronto real estate market right now. The media is painting it’s usual negative perspective, which is causing a lot of fear and perplexity for both buyers AND sellers.
So what is going on in the housing market?
I call this market the stalemate:
Buyers keep waiting for prices to drop
Sellers don’t need to sell so they are holding onto properties
Prices are down (which makes sense because we have a great first part of the 2022 and 2021 was record breaking)
Inventory levels are ALSO down.
Properties that are well priced and staged well - we have seen multiple offers again
Buyers that want to buy - are struggling to buy because of the lack of inventory
Sellers that want to sell are holding true to their market value prices (which is beyond fair!)
Interest rates have gone up - so the perception is the market is out of reach for most and payments will be crazy.
Sellers want to know: how long will it take to sell?
Buyers want to know: is the bottom of the market?
There aren’t really answers to those questions because NO ONE (especially not the media,) has a crystal ball.
Here a few things we do know:
Mortgage payments haven’t gone up that much since prices have dropped (in most areas - for true facts on prices in Toronto it’s better to do a micro analysis)
People do still need to buy and sell
The gap in average sales price between condos and homes has shortened (at the time of me writing this blog - I can’t say how long that will last) SOOO there is an opportunity for buyers looking to move up.
Another a big opportunity we’re seeing right now is for buyers who have the capacity to carry a mortgage and want to purchase a house in Toronto but don’t have 20% down for a home purchase over $1M. Because prices have come down a bit, those desiring a home that was typically ABOVE $1million could secure the home just below $1M and secure a mortgage with the smaller down payment
Ex. If a house, pre-interest rate hikes was $1.1, the min. Down payment would have been over 20% which isn’t possible for everyone.
Apres-Interest hikes, that same home could be $999,000 so those that didn’t meet the down payment requirements pre-interest rate hikes, will now have the opportunity.
So as you can see all is not lost in our real estate market and there are still some great opportunities.
If you would like to learn more - please check out the youtube video with amazing my mortgage broker: Lena Ohanjanians.
