If you’re planning to put your home for sale in Mississauga real estate listings, you better check the Toronto real estate market outlook in 2019 first, seeing as these two cities are close enough to each other. As Toronto is the most important real estate market in the country, whatever happens there will affect the real estate situation for Mississauga as well.
Marketing experts have taken note of the following points for Toronto real estate in 2019:
Tech Startups Changing the Traditional Commission Structure
Changes in consumer behavior and real estate regulations may now change the way buyers and sellers work with real estate agents, and Toronto-based startups are helping to make that happen.
One of these startups is Nobul, which offers a simple concept. Property sellers and buyers come to Nobul to find an agent. Agents then bid on that client, either by offering more attractive commission rates or by offering a wider range of services for their commission. The bids are open and transparent to eliminate any perception of price fixing. The site also offers customer reviews and ratings for bidding agents so that they can have a point of comparison.
Since Nobul’s launch, 350 agents so far have signed up for the website. They don’t work for Nobul, as they only use the website as a matchmaking platform to advertise their services to potential clients.
Luxury Home Market Cools Down
It has become apparent to just about everyone that the luxury real estate market in Toronto has largely been fueled by foreign investment. Toronto has imposed taxes on foreign buyers, and that has caused a reduction in the demand for luxury homes from people overseas.
That caused a drastic drop in sales for homes with prices of more than $1 million. In Toronto, singe-detached homes with a price within the $1 million to $2 million range dropped by 35% in sales compared to a year ago. For the homes costing within $2 million to $3 million, the sales were down by 50% in Toronto. Sales for homes with a price tag of greater than $3 million dropped by 44%.
Part of the drop of sales has been a great hesitance on the part of luxury home owners to put up their homes for sale in these circumstances. Many of them are planning to just wait it out and wait for a better selling situation.
Condos Remain Popular Options
You may notice a lot of condo building around Toronto lately. These efforts are meant to satisfy a great demand for condos that have no signs of slowing down soon. Sales of even luxury condos have increased.
These increases have been partly due to millennials who are coming in with their inheritances. Baby boomers have also contributed to this demand for condos, as their children have flown the coop and the parents are looking to downsize instead.
Condos are more attractive because buyers don’t have to be as rich to afford them. Buyers need an annual household income of $159,289 to afford the benchmark home in the Toronto area. To afford the benchmark condo in Toronto, you only need an annual household income of just $93,602.
Condos also offer more people to come into the property ownership market, especially with the preconstruction deals. First-time buyers can come in at the preconstruction phase, and their eventual condos will only be available on 4 to 5 years. But the wait is actually a good thing for new buyers, as it gives them time to save up. At a rate of 10% savings, it takes at least 57 months to save up for the down payment of a new home.