Comments on: 1 In 3 Homes Listed For Resale In Toronto Haven’t Been Occupied

By: 7% of Toronto’s homes are sold within a year of being purchased – MadePress™

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 01:37:48 +0000

[…] empty to flip at peaks. Tenanted properties are more difficult to sell than untenanted ones, and even easier if they’ve never been occupied before. Toronto’s vacant home situation starting to make sense? […]

By: Toronto has a boatload of unoccupied homes – Feelib

Toronto has a boatload of unoccupied homes – Feelib — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 18:35:44 +0000

[…] on to inventory until they believe they’ve hit peak. In fact, a few months ago we observed that 1 in 3 homes in the city were being sold as never been lived in, despite many having been built a few years […]

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 02:40:02 +0000

In reply to Brian. Brian, you're right that the market would convulse if interest rates were to increase. But interest rates in Canada, like the rest of the world, will remain at record lows for many years to come. Plenty of other Western nations even have negative interest rates right now. All economies are struggling so rates are not going to change significantly.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 23:12:54 +0000

There’s a constant influx of people to Toronto which drives demand and there are very few empty residences, house or condo. There is speculation but that’s driven by real estate agents pumping the prices ever higher and by desperate buyers trying to find a home to raise a family in and by foreign speculators/investors. There are few condos large enough to raise a family in and whatever is available goes for a premium making them as expensive as a house plus the condo fees which are potentially limitless. There were a few real estate price crashes in the past in Toronto, I witnessed 2. One of the crashes had a decline in real estate values of as high as 50% which took years to make up. People have been declaring we are in a bubble for years but the prices still escalate in Toronto. As interest rates increase, it is the bottom of the market which suffers not the mid to high end where the buyers have lots of cash and don’t need much of a mortgage or none.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 20:41:29 +0000

This article is complete balderdash. First, as others have pointed out, it’s disingenuous to lump completed pre-construction occupancy in with ordinary housing. Secondly, nobody is flipping condos in Toronto anymore. It hasn’t been profitable to do so in at least three years since the cost of new condos has shot up and made flipping unprofitable.

This is all to say that Toronto is nothing like Vancouver and that speculation is not rampant in Toronto – at least not in Toronto proper, where there is real demand for condos that are being bought to live in. Once condos are sold they’re lived in or rented out for long periods of time. There is no empty condo syndrome. Lights are on and buildings are at full capacity. In fact, it is this demand that is driving developers to get into the purpose built rental market again after 40 years. There is a lot of rental demand (and growing) that they know they can capitalize on.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 18:40:50 +0000

Marc Cohodes said it best, if you want to see how empty condos are in Toronto – go for a walk late at night. Then go for one really early in the morning. There’s either a lot of people on vacation, sitting in the dark, or the condos are empty.

By: Jim B

Jim B — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 18:38:07 +0000

In reply to Laurin Jeffrey. Actually Vancouver has more of a speculation problem than we do money laundering. The bidding wars for resales here are insane, I've been outbid bidding 10% over ask on places. Then you find out they just let them sit empty for years before flipping them again. Toronto's in the same situation. People just haven't realized it yet.

By: Jenny Chen

Jenny Chen — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 18:30:27 +0000

Garth Turner just did a great piece on why he rents and people speculate.

http://www.greaterfool.ca/2016/11/29/why-i-rent/

By: Real estate news for Toronto, Canada, the USA and abroad

Real estate news for Toronto, Canada, the USA and abroad — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 18:21:27 +0000

[…] 1 In 3 homes listed for resale in Toronto haven’t been occupied (Better Dwelling) […]

By: Sean Wright

Sean Wright — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 18:18:01 +0000

In reply to Dave. Smart agents tell their regular clients this stuff all of the time. My realtor calls me up whenever he has pre-construction to purchase and flip. Put down 10%, and you get make an easy $100k on the flip. I've done this about 10-12 times in the past 5 years or so. What most people don't realize is a good agent will get a discount from pre-construction prices from having a relationship with the developer. If you walk in and pay sticker like kids do, you'll barely turn a profit (if you do) after expenses.