The Toronto-area real estate market is seeing a gradual swell in listings from 20-year lows. Prospective buyers are having a hard time coming up with the funds to buy them.
But even as properties are discounted, buyers are having a hard time qualifying for a mortgage at the amount they were hoping for. Despite buyer hesitancy, many homeowners are forging ahead with listing. Inventory has increased in Toronto’s core and by greater measures in outlying communities such as Peel, York and Dufferin.
Lauren Haw, broker at Zoocasa, says the freehold market in the core 416 area code cracked four months of inventory around Labour Day. A portion of listings in the detached segment are coming from speculative builders who bought a property with the intention of tearing down an existing house and rebuilding.
But he notes that supply is also an important part of the rebalancing story, with national listings posting gains for the fifth straight month in August.