Toronto Leads Canada in Lack of Homes

Currently, it is a seller’s market in Canada as there are more buyers than there are homes for sale. This lack of homes is driving up prices of homes and making bidding wars something that is very common across the country.

No other place has a greater lack of homes in Canada than Toronto. Currently, Toronto leads the entire Canadian market for lack of listings.

In January 2010, there were 41 percent fewer homes being listed when compared with January 2009.

 In a survey done by ReMax, it was found that 81 percent of the markets across Canada have shown a big decrease in listing, with Toronto leading the way.

Next to Toronto, Saskatoon has the largest drop in listings between January 2009 and January 2010, with 37 percent fewer listings. Third place goes back to Ontario with Kitchener-Waterloo who had a 33 percent drop in listings between the two months. Victoria and Ottawa saw a drop of 30 percent, while Vancouver had a drop of 27 percent.

 In Toronto, many buyers are looking at new developments in order to buy homes so that they do not have to get into the bidding wars created by sellers selling their own homes. Homes sales in Toronto doubled in January compared with January of the previous year. In January 2010, there were 2,162 houses and condos sold, which was an increase of 237 percent over January of 2009.

 In the Greater Toronto Area, the York region saw the biggest increase in sales with sales going up 385 percent, while the City of Toronto had an increase of 289 percent, while Peel Region had an increase of 259 percent.

 In Toronto, developers are working had to bring more homes to market because of this disparity. Home prices are reaching the levels seen during the height of the real estate boom, which has many wondering about the possibility of another housing bubble. However, with new mortgage rules and the increase in the interest rate in a few months, this is unlikely to happen.

More sellers are coming onto the market as well, which should drive down the prices of homes in the coming months. More people are confident in the real estate market now, and that should make it easier for sellers to take the risk to sell a home, plus many want to take advantage of the high prices homes are going for.