Latest news with #condomarket
CTV News
26-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
What's happening to Montreal's downtown condo market?
Although it may be faring better than Toronto's, the downtown Montreal condo market is facing headwinds. The median price of a condo jumped 3 per cent on the island in the past year, but it's fueled mostly by sales in the suburbs. The downtown market is much slower. 'One developer was telling me as a joke that his biggest competition in the new condo market was not other developers, but it was a condo he built five years ago,' Francis Cortellino, an economist with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, said. Recent numbers from the CMHC show just how tough the downtown condo market is. The CMHC says 25 per cent of recently built condos in downtown and Griffintown would now sell at a loss. If the owner decides to rent it out, the CMHC says the majority of landlords would not cover their expenses. 'If you take into account, monthly mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, condo fees, the rent that you're asking on the market would not be able to cover those losses,' Cortellino said. Real estate broker Amy Assaad says there are a number of reasons for that. One of them is the ban on foreign investors. 'The people who were buying these types of properties were investors, and we don't have these investors anymore, and that's what's affecting the market,' Assaad said. Not to mention oversupply, with a lot of units looking exactly the same. 'You're competing with thousands and thousands of units that are on the market at the same time,' Assaad said. According to the CMHC, Montreal faces many of the same challenges as Toronto, but the impact is different. 'The volume of condos in Toronto is way higher than Montreal,' Cortellino said. 'I would say there's investors in Montreal for the condo market, but that market is way larger in Toronto.' For Montreal, it results in a lot of downtown condos sitting on the market. Assaad says bigger units with more than one bedroom and more than one bathroom that also include parking tend to have higher resale value. 'A condo that was selling ten years ago is selling for less sometimes than what the person paid for it,' Assaad said. 'Whereas a single-family home downtown Montreal has tripled in value.'
CTV News
21-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Metro Vancouver condo sales dropped 20 per cent in April: report
The condo market is taking a hit in Metro Vancouver. April sales dropped 20 per cent compared to last year.
CBC
17-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Why Canada's condo market is struggling during an affordable housing crisis
The condo market in two of Canada's big cities has taken a major downturn. For The National, CBC's Nisha Patel breaks down three reasons why condos aren't selling in the middle of a housing crisis.
Globe and Mail
16-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Vancouver condo market shows signs of crashing, and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for the week of May 16
This week, the renter, home construction and condo markets take a hit as demand continues to drop. Plus, the 'poor millionaire' homeowner, and one home worth a look. Try The Globe's business and investing news quiz The demand for new condos in Canada is dwindling, leaving landlords to compete for the attention of potential tenants. As Salmaan Farooqui writes, it's a sign that concerns about the Canadian economy and a surge in new condo completions this year are making it difficult to find renters. In past years, renters needed to jump on the first available opportunity, while landlords could be more choosy – sometimes hoping for a bidding war. Now, the roles have reversed. A spokesperson for said the largest promotions he's seen include two months of free rent, cash rebates of up to $1,000, free parking and free subscriptions to services like internet and cable. As the condo market slows, the home construction industry is slowing down with it, leading to development companies pulling back on buying up new land. According to data from Atlus Group, the value of deals for residential land development in the Greater Toronto Area has been dropping, culminating in the first quarter of 2025 ranking as the lowest in the last five years. And as Shane Dingman writes, there are already worrying signs that builders are pulling back on construction for sites they currently own. A long-established Vancouver development company has terminated its presales efforts for a major project and returned purchasers' deposits, in a sign that the city's condo market is in trouble. According to Karen West, vice-president for marketing and sales with Boffo Developments Ltd., the company launched the first of what was meant to be a four-tower, 1,200-unit development last July in the hopes that the market was starting to improve as interest rates were coming down. But as Frances Bula writes, only 44 units of the 318 in the first tower sold between July and December, and then sales dropped off completely in the new year, leading to the company pausing the project, returning deposits with interest, and waiting for better conditions. Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured versus uninsured) as of market close on Thursday May 15. When you celebrate real estate like we do in Canada, you end up with anomalies such as people who are house rich and retirement poor, writes personal finance columnist Rob Carrick. It all starts when you stretch your finances to buy a house and justify it with the expectation of building wealth through home equity. Open Policy has found that Toronto's Top 50 neighbourhoods ranked by average home values in 2021 had 6,860 people 65 and older with poverty-level incomes and homes worth more than $1-million. A more common story is the senior who starts off okay in retirement, then finds their savings are running out. A basic rule if you're concerned about not having enough retirement income and own a home: Make sure you have a home equity line of credit (HELOC) in place before you leave the work force. 8482 Highway 337, Georgeville, N.S. – Full gallery here Nova Scotia is famous for its kitchen parties, but if you build a house with a large enough open space you can take it to the next level: a house concert. The owner of the three-bedroom home in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, has used its great room to host musical acts for their friends and neighbours. The home is essentially a big square behind a wide apron of tarmac – the front door opens directly into the centre of the main room, a 30- by 40-foot space that's almost like a church nave with the ceiling rising 18 feet to a point above a huge stone chimney. The guest house is further to the right past the garage, built into a steep ridge with a basement walkout to the slope below. While your guests are being serenaded, enjoy the ocean view of the home's outdoor kitchen.
CBC
15-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
The condo market is slowing down. Where are all the buyers?
Social Sharing The condo market meltdown in Canada's largest cities is showing no signs of fading. Experts say the market has shifted significantly over the past few months, as supply soars and demand disappears. "We're pretty much at a recession in the condo market," said Robert Kavcic, senior economist at Bank of Montreal. The downturn is concentrated in Toronto and across southern Ontario, and to a lesser extent Vancouver, he explained. Other markets, like Edmonton and Montreal, are holding up better for now. "We're probably going to be in this soft type of environment for a couple of years going forward," he said. Condo sales in the Greater Toronto Area tumbled in April, with a 30 per cent year-over-year decline, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. The average price of $678,048 was 6.8 per cent lower than the same period a year ago, and is down 16.5 per cent since the peak of the market in 2022. Price declines in London and Barrie have been even steeper. In Vancouver, condo sales slipped 20 per cent in April compared to 2024, according to Greater Vancouver Realtors. The benchmark price was $762,800, a 1.8 per cent decline year over year, and a nine per cent drop over the past three years. There may be more pressure in store for the sector, though some markets may be hit harder than others. TD Bank economists predict prices will likely fall a further 10 per cent in the GTA condo resale market this year. Soaring supply Real estate agent Sean Miller said in Toronto, unsold condos are piling up. Units that once would have sold in days may now take weeks. "We've got seven months of inventory, which is insane, and we just don't have the buyers to absorb it," he said. "We haven't seen that much inventory in 20 years." With so many properties to choose from, Miller said buyers are looking for deals and are able to take their time shopping around. Sellers are having to revise their expectations, and can no longer hold on to the hefty prices of the overheated market from a few years ago. "If you're a seller and you don't have something that's amazing, it's tricky and you've got to be realistic," he said. A record wave of newly built condos is also adding to supply. In the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area alone, 29,800 units were completed last year, according to Urbanation, with more coming online in 2025. "What we're seeing now with all of this supply coming to completion is actually a reflection of demand conditions that existed two or three years ago," Kavcic said. "That doesn't exist anymore." The number of newly built, unsold condo units in the Vancouver region is expected to jump by 60 per cent by the end of the year, predicted realty firm Rennie & Associates. Steve Saretsky, a realtor with Oakland Realty in Vancouver, says there's a sea of inventory in areas like Surrey and Burnaby. "It's where you've had a lot of investment and speculation, a lot of price growth, and now just people looking to exit." WATCH | Why is the condo market plummeting during a housing crisis? Why the condo market is plummeting during a housing crisis 21 hours ago Duration 5:59 Disappearing demand Experts are calling the condo market a buyer's market — the issue is, many buyers have disappeared. The first-time homebuyers, who have been waiting for an opportunity to get into the market, are still finding prices out of reach. "Affordability has improved modestly, but it's still very unaffordable to the vast majority of people living here," said Saretsky. They're known as end users or owner occupants, who are looking for resale condos to actually live in. Many say the sizes and layouts of the units available leave a lot to be desired. Condos in Toronto, with an average floor plan of 650 square feet, are often referred to as "shoeboxes in the sky." Have you knocked down walls to make a small condo unit bigger? We want to hear from you! Email ask@ with your story. Kavcic said the imbalance is the result of what was the easiest and most economical path for builders: cranking out projects with a lot of small units, which investors preferred since they just wanted to rent or flip them quickly. "What we demographically need is larger units, with two or three bedrooms and, in a lot of cases, backyards," he said. For years, investors were some of the biggest buyers of pre-construction condos, lured by extremely low interest rates and the certainty of a steady stream of renters. Now, as federal policymakers cap immigration, population growth is falling quickly. Combined with a historically high number of purpose-built rental units, rents in many cities are coming down after years of steep increases. The average asking rent of a one-bedroom condo in Toronto fell almost six per cent in April year over year, and Vancouver fell more than four per cent, according to That's good news for renters. But for investors, interest rates are much higher, and the cost of carrying the property as a rental is less appealing. "The investors are basically gone from the market right now, because rather than expectations of price increases, they have to look at things like cash flow … it just doesn't make sense at four per cent borrowing costs," Kavcic said. Thousands of investors also face steep losses, as presale condos purchased a few years ago are worth less than their original value. Saretsky said in Vancouver, there are projects that pre-sold for $2,500 per square foot, but appraisals are now coming in at $1,900 per square foot. "A cohort of investors will be scarred for a long time. They're gonna say, you know what? I'm never buying an investment condo again," he said. "That's probably healthy in the long run. You get a little bit of rebalancing and you get more end users into the market." Miller, the real estate agent, said well-priced units with liveable floor plans are still selling. But the trade war with the U.S. is forcing many buyers to put major purchases on hold, as unemployment ticks up and consumer confidence is shaky. "A small interest rate reduction in June could make things improve a little bit, but then something else could change that sentiment," said Miller.
