Will The Toronto Real Estate Market Continue To Rise In 2010?

As was expected by most experts, the Toronto real estate market continues to improve over the difficult years of 2008 and the first part of 2009. In just the first two weeks of January, 1,749 homes were sold. Last year, only 888 homes were sold during that same period. It should be noted that this was when the housing market was suffering at its worst, so the numbers are going to be quite low for 2009 until about May when everything started to rebound.

The second half of 2009 was a time of surging real estate sales and prices, and that has continued into 2010. Record increases in sales were recorded from June to December 2009 when compared with June to December of 2008. However, while the January numbers for 2010 are looking good, they are below what was recorded in the first two weeks of 2008, when 1,776 homes were sold.

During the first two weeks of January, the average home price was $395,307, which is a big increase over the average home price of $332,495 during the same period in 2009. It is also above the average price for the first two weeks of 2008, which stood at $367,575. The reason that home prices are above what they were in 2008 is because there are currently more buyers than there are homes. The reason for this is because it takes time for the home builders and sellers to catch up with the trends, so until everything evens out it will be a seller’s market and that drives up the prices. Bidding wars have become common in Toronto thanks to this disparity.

This is a big contrast to the United States which is still seeing housing prices and sales falling between December and January, which continues a trend that began in 2008 and seems to be continuing. It is expected that some time later in this year the American housing market may improve, and that may again help the Canadian real estate market improve more than it already has.

Homeowners in Toronto are still waiting and seeing if they want to list their homes. Many worry that they will list their home and the housing market will collapse, leaving them with low offers that they cannot accept. However, as the homeowners begin to get used to the improved housing market and get more confident in it, they will start listing their homes and this will bring prices down.

In June, the interest rate is going to be going up according to the Bank of Canada and that will also help slow the surging real estate market, but levels for the year are expected to remain high in terms of sales in Toronto.