Latest news with #condos
CTV News
5 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Rent-free months and gift cards: How Toronto-area landlords are vying for tenants
TORONTO — Toronto landlords are trying to lure in tenants with rent-free months, complimentary Wi-Fi and $500 gift cards amid an unprecedented supply of condos and lower rents. Real-estate market experts say the fierce competition – which extends beyond the Greater Toronto Area – is giving renters more negotiating power, echoing trends last seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two months of free rent, free parking and gift cards for food delivery or public transit are among thousands of dollars' worth of perks and discounts advertised on Toronto rental listing websites and apps. While such incentives are ubiquitous in Toronto, landlords in other GTA cities and the Greater Hamilton Area are also locked in a tight contest that benefits renters. Michael Niezgoda, senior manager of market research and development at Urbanation, a Toronto-based real estate research firm, said a record 29,000 condominium units were completed in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area in 2024 and 40 per cent of that new supply has since entered the rental market. 'This has created a lot of competition between condo owners, they're very motivated to get tenants in to help pay their mortgage after closing on their new condos,' he said. There were 6,549 condo units available for lease in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area at the end of this year's first quarter – a 29 per cent increase from a year ago and 160 per cent higher than two years ago, last month's Urbanation report shows. The report also found that 63 per cent of buildings offered incentives to renters, more than double from a year ago. The vacancy rate for purpose-built rentals completed since 2000 in the Toronto and Hamilton areas was 3.5 per cent in the first quarter this year, the highest level since nearly four years ago. The report also found that condo rents are 10 per cent lower from their peak in 2023. Niezgoda said the second quarter might see a further drop, even though the majority of landlords are resistant to the idea. 'Looking at all this supply hitting the condo markets and (they) are thinking this could be a short-term market impact,' he said. 'To stay competitive in this short-term market, let's offer incentives instead of dropping rents.' Toronto Regional Real Estate Board's chief information officer Jason Mercer also said the record supply of condominium apartments is behind the surge in rental incentives. Mercer said he has seen similar trends during the financial crisis of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave renters 'negotiating power on price.' 'You also just benefit from a lot of choice, so it's easier to find an apartment, for example, that perfectly meets your needs,' he said. The federal government has implemented a series of measures aimed at stabilizing Canada's population growth and addressing housing shortages, including a reduction in immigration levels and international student permits. But Mercer said demand for housing is still high and the number of lease transactions recorded by the board has increased because the population continues to grow and the GTA remains a top destination for newcomers. According to recent data from and Urbanation, the national average asking rent in April was down year-over-year for the seventh straight month, with Ontario recording the largest decline. Asking rents in the province fell 2.7 per cent to an average of $2,338. Zumper, a rental website operating in Canada and the United States, also found in April that rents for one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments in Toronto had declined 8.4 per cent and 10.6 per cent, respectively, compared to the same month the year before. Zumper spokesperson Crystal Chen said many people were 'priced out' of the city when rents surged dramatically in 2023. But reduced demand and broader economic uncertainty mean apartments are now being rented for hundreds of dollars less than a year ago. 'All of this together, the new supply, the weaker demand drivers has resulted in a slower market,' Chen said, adding it's 'a great time for a Toronto renter to find an amenity rich apartment that may have previously been out of reach.' But experts say the current market dynamics favouring tenants may not last long. Urbanation president Shaun Hildebrand noted in the report that construction of purpose-built and condominium apartments has slowed down significantly this year, and that is an indicator that rental incentives might disappear. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2025. Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What can Toronto's real estate industry do to solve the city's big problem of small condos?
In Toronto, towers upon towers of small condo units fill block after block downtown. Condo sales across the board are slumping in Canada's biggest cities as supply soars and demand shrinks. And the hardest units to sell are often the tiniest. Bachelor and one bedroom units in the Toronto area made up 20 per cent of condo sales in the last quarter of 2024, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. Bigger units, such as one bedroom plus den, two bedrooms and two bedrooms plus den, collectively made up 72 per cent of sales. One bedrooms are also fetching less on the rental market — the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto has dropped 5.8 per cent year-over-year, according to data from rental unit listing site while that decline is even steeper in some other Canadian cities. Toronto-based real estate broker John Pasalis says one-bedroom and studio spaces are the hardest to move in the current market. "Especially very small one bedrooms, under 550 square feet," he said. "Demand is very slow." It's a trend that's been building for years, according to Christopher Wein, chief operating officer of Ontario-based real estate development company Equiton Developments. Over the last five years, he says developers have been building units that are too small to be comfortable, and the realities of the market are catching up with the industry. "Small is great from a price point perspective, but not if it's not functional, feasible or livable," Wein said, noting that the industry has figured out that it went too far in terms of the number of small units they made. Now, he says "the pendulum has to swing back." As the city's condo-buying market switches from investors looking to flip small units for a profit or use as rentals to end users who actually want to live in the condos they buy, some builders, real estate agents and other industry insiders are re-evaluating what once worked and trying to figure out how the current supply of smaller floorplans can be reimagined to meet demand for bigger units. It's something experts say is doable, but complicated, expensive and very much dependent upon what stage of development buildings are in. Wein says changing a condo's footprint is possible sometimes — he's redesigned several buildings in the past at various stages of the construction process, both with Equiton and other companies. But once a building is finished, he says, swaps can be really difficult to make, whether its being done by a builder or a single condo owner hoping to merge two units. "Now you are tearing things apart, you're doing a renovation," Wein said. "You have to look at how that affects not just the structural engineering, but also mechanical and electrical." WATCH | Why the condo market is plummeting during a housing crisis: Expansions require knocking down walls between units, which presents challenges. Wein says midrise buildings might have walls made of wood or steel, but most buildings over 12 storeys require concrete walls for support. He says merging units in high-rise towers is often "so complicated, so expensive, and it's going to require so much engineering solution, that we just shouldn't bother." In cases where Wein has removed walls, only part of the wall is made of concrete — then, it's a matter of finding the gaps and making the floor plan functional between the two spaces. But this still requires lots of work and results in waste — for example, ripping out one fully-functional kitchen which means all those fixtures and materials would end up as scrap. Pasalis, the real estate broker, says merging units does happen occasionally, but mostly in the luxury condo market. The average person looking to buy two units and merge them — especially two previously occupied condos rather than units in a brand-new building — would likely have a tricky time finding a place where that's possible, he says. "The probability of two units going on the market at the exact same time for sale that are well suited to be merged … that will be virtually zero." On top of difficult structural challenges, experts say the math also doesn't add up in most cases. According to Pasalis, smaller condos sell for more per square foot than bigger ones. Buying two small condos might cost about $1.2 million, he estimates, plus more to renovate and merge them. For close to that amount, he points out, you could buy a semi-detached house in Toronto's downtown, and of course, it would cost far less to simply buy a condo pre-built with multiple bedrooms. The only way the option might become viable is if the price of small condos falls significantly and bigger two or three bedroom units keep their value, Pasalis says, as folks buying and renovating condos would actually gain something from their investment. Helen Stopps, an assistant architectural science professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, says even if buyers could stomach the price and the extensive renovations required to merge smaller condos into larger ones, red tape might stop construction anyway. WATCH | Just how small is a micro condo?: Condos are built on a shared ownership model, where people own their individual units but invest and make decisions about the overall building as a group. Most construction in condos needs to be approved by the condo board that oversees building management, which Stopps says can make getting this kind of renovation done "incredibly hard." The cases where it makes the most sense sense is on a mass scale when people aren't living in the building, she says. So that means either in the pre-construction phase while the developer is still in control, or in vacant buildings where a single company or collective has bought the entire condo. Even if small condo units sit on the market for a while, Stopps says they'll eventually be sold or rented — though she notes prices might have to fall substantially before that happens. On some level, that means working with a small space to make it more livable. Things like movable walls or dividers, reconfigurable furniture and off-site storage units could all make smaller spaces more functional, Stopps suggests. Adding more shared amenities or public spaces to condos, she says, could also help people get some of the extra space they crave. Stopps also says it's up to provincial or municipal governments to incentivize developers to build more livable housing. Allowing developers to "do whatever they want in order to maximize their profits" is part of why we ended up with so many tiny condos in the first place, Stopp says, noting that because smaller units can be sold for more money per square foot, that's what developers choose to build. A "density bonus" from the government, or lowering development charges for condos that are planned with bigger units could help push developers away from micro-units, she says. On the development side, Wein says he and some other developers have started changing future projects where necessary to make units bigger in response to buyer demand. He notes that Equiton's project at 875 The Queensway in Toronto is a good example. Designs, zoning and approval were all done when Wein says he went back to the drawing board after realizing the units were too cramped and weren't matching what buyers wanted. That project, expected to be move-in ready in 2027, will now have 152 units instead of 177, with each unit becoming about 10 per cent bigger. Wein says it's the smart move, given the demand for bigger spaces doesn't seem to be going away. "You're far better off [adjusting now] than you are, you know, just forging ahead and hoping market conditions change."
CBC
26-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Thinking about buying a home in London? There's more available now than in years
London realtor Doug Galbraith said the last time he saw a housing market as slow as today's was in 1983 when all the houses on his childhood street were listed for sale at once. Now that supply is up and demand is down, he said it's a good time for prospective buyers to invest in a home. "I always say the best time to buy is today, but in my real estate career, I've never seen anything like this," said Galbraith, who is with Blue Forest Realty. "A couple years ago, you would put 'for sale' signs on lawns with 'sold' stickers already on them," he said. "Realistically, now you're looking at 30 to 45 days on a property that's priced right. If it's not priced right, it'll just sit." London is one of several Canadian cities that have seen a market slowdown, specifically when it comes to condos. Apartment condo sales are down 28 per cent compared to this time last year, while townhouse condos are down 25 per cent, said London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR) chair Dale Marsh. There have been 479 condos listed so far this year in London, according to LSTAR. "We went from a provincial election straight into a federal election, plus the perfect storm of having tariffs thrown in there at the same time, so I think there's some nervousness of people in the area," Marsh said. The average price of a townhouse is sitting at $516,000, while apartment condos are around $381,000, Marsh said, adding that while prices have spiked post-pandemic, the market only rises or falls by about two per cent each month. "It's a little bit of a stable rollercoaster," he said. Realtor Jie Dan of Sutton Group said part of the reason people aren't buying, despite the flat market, is the high cost of living. "People aren't usually looking at the overall market prices over the years, they're just looking at whether or not they can afford it," she said, adding that many people cannot. "A lot of people do not have the disposable income." However, she said people who are in the financial position to buy a home should take advantage of the current market. "Don't wait. If you're a first time home buyer and can afford it, you need to make that investment," Dan said. Buyer, seller behaviours changing Because it's a buyer's market, Galbraith said he's noticed that buyer behaviour has changed, with people taking more time to close a deal. "Now you have a little more time to make an educated decision," he said. "You can bring in your home inspector or father-in-law who's an electrician to give your house a good going-over." Buyers also have more swing when negotiating, he added. However, it's a more challenging time for sellers, the realtors agreed. "You've got some extra competition, so you want to make sure your pricing is bang on," Marsh said. Galbraith said he is even cautioning some homeowners against selling their property until London becomes a seller's market again, unless they absolutely need to. "If you're just selling to see what's going to happen, I would recommend you wait," he said. When will the market balance out? Marsh said he expects the market to turn around by summer or fall, following the past few months of pent up demand. However, unless the cost of living changes, Galbraith and Dan are less hopeful. "People are drowning and I see it," Galbraith said. "I've done mortgages for people in the last six months that are just trying to pay their bills." Dan said the last time she experienced a market like this was in 2007, and although that quickly started to balance out in 2008, she said the current slowdown won't be resolved for at least two more years.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How to Sell a Condo When the Market Is Working Against You
Prospective buyers are concerned about major repairs and rising homeowners' association dues, on top of high prices and mortgage rates. It is all making condos harder to sell.
CTV News
23-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
B.C. developer offers to buy back pre-sale condos
B.C. developer offers to buy back pre-sale condos In a cooling condo market, one developer is trying a bold strategy to move units.
