Robin Pope, broker with Pope Real Estate, says the languid spring market has slowed even more in June.would cut its benchmark rate for the first time since 2020. When the central bank did indeed lower its policy rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent, they waited some more to see if the move would have an impact on the market.Even another cut of the same size won’t move the needle much in his opinion.
“After 10 days of being on the market, not one inquiry, not one showing,” says Mr. Pope, adding that traffic was so slow the agent needed to verify the listing was actually online.., has been watching new listings stream onto the Multiple Listing Service of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board since the central bank announcement.’s data crunching shows inventory in the core 416 area code recently surpassed the high water mark set in October, 2020 during the depths of the pandemic.
Ms. Wong has been surprised to see homeowners rush to put a “for sale” sign on their property when active listings have been steadily rising. Earlier in the spring Ms. Wong suspended the listing for a renovated two-bedroom condo in the St. Lawrence Market area. It’s the sort of unit that would be snapped up in an instant in a strong market, she says.“I don’t think it makes sense to go into this push with everybody else,” she says. “It’s hard for sellers to hear, ‘you’ve got to hold your horses.’”
In the condo market, Mr. Pope says, potential buyers are wary of buying a unit today that they are betting may be cheaper a few months from now.Some of that pressure comes from new supply coming on-stream. Industry analysts at Urbanation Inc. estimate more than 26,000 condo units in the Greater Toronto Area will reach completion in 2024.He notes that not all of those units will come up for sale but a portion were purchased by investors who may have always intended to sell.
The client is now in the market for a condo in the $700,000 to $800,000 range. She is keen not to overpay after taking less than she expected for her house.