Greater Toronto Area real estate approaching ‘buyer’s market’: BMO
Global News
Canadian real estate prices have sizzled for years as the COVID-19 pandemic turned the market white-hot. Now, home listing data suggests the scorching pace is cooling.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians hoping to buy homes have had to brave a sizzling seller’s market where waiving inspections, blind bidding, and dozens of competing offers are the norm.
Now, BMO’s chief economist says what many potential house-hunters are hoping for — a balanced or, better yet, buyer’s market — may finally be arriving.
In a new data snapshot issued by the bank on Tuesday morning, Doug Porter said there’s been a “quick fall” in the sales-to-new-listing ratio which is a key part of assessing who holds more power in the Canadian real estate market.
That ratio dropped from 76 per cent to 66 per cent last month, a level not seen since June 2020.
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) said Monday that level is “right on the border between what would constitute a seller’s and a balanced market.”
As a result, CREA noted home prices have just seen their first monthly decline in two years.
When it comes to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) specifically, Porter raised the possibility of a buyer’s market.
“The GTA sales-listing ratio plunged to just 45 per cent in April, which is suddenly getting into buyers market terrain,” Porter wrote in the BMO snapshot data assessment.