Toronto market to set record

This year’s transactions to top at least 90,000

The November housing market was the hottest on record in the GTA, the Toronto Real Estate Board said today and 2007 is poised to set a record year overall, with transactions to top at least 90,000 — breaking the old record of 84,000 in 2005.

The president of the Toronto Real Estate Board, Maureen O’Neil, said the pending land-transfer tax has been driving sales and that Tuesday’s rate cut is going to help as well.

“You’re seeing a lot of multiple offer situations in the urban centres. I’ve been in the business for 27 years and I’ve never seen anything like the multiple offer situations that we’re encountering right now,” O’Neil said.

“You can now get 25-year, 30-year mortgages. You can go in for five per cent down, enabling people who never could afford to buy before,” she added.

Although the land-transfer tax is key, she said it’s only part of the story. “I don’t know whether we can attribute it entirely to that, probably 30-40 per cent of it is,” O’Neil said. “People certainly want to — those who are sitting on the fence — in terms of buyers, (they) are wanting to buy and save that tax.”

The average price of a home in the GTA in November was approaching $394,000 thousand, while in Toronto it’s over $410,000.

Share This

This post was found on RealEstatePlus
Follow the link to get to the orginal message.