April 2023 GTA Real Estate Sales Insights

Hello and welcome to my May 2023 newsletter where we discuss Real Estate and Mortgage insights and updates, particularly in Ontario and GTA. The previous editions of the newsletter can be found as here. 

This newsletter covers the following:

• April 2023 GTA real estate sales data
  • Good news
  • Not-so-good news
  • Possible implications

• Mortgage updates
  • Rates
  • Offers

April 2023, GTA real estate sales data

• Good News

TRREB published the April 2023 Residential Statistics earlier last week, and the data is…. mixed.

The good news is that the number of transactions is up as compared to last month.

As can be seen from the charts above, sales in April 2023 increased 27% over March this year. Although that is still 5.2% lower compared to April last year, it shows a real estate market coming back to life with buyers and sellers getting off the sidelines.

This is also reaffirmed by the sales to listing data which shows that 23% more homes that are being listed are getting sold this year, as compared to last year.

• Not-so-good news

Now, the not-so-good news, particularly for buyers and for the Bank of Canada is that prices have started going back up even though they are still down from last year.

As can be seen from the charts above home prices in April 2023 crept up by 2.4% over March this year, although they’re still lower by 7.8% as compared to April last year. Now that’s obviously not so good news for buyers, but it is particularly concerning for the Bank of Canada. Despite a historic 4.25% rate increase in a relatively short time, one of the most price-sensitive sectors of the economy, housing, seems to shrug it off and shows signs of going back to business as usual.

If this trend in housing continues, combining that with the repeated blockbuster jobs reports coming in month after month, should give the Bank of Canada reasons to rethink their so-called “rate hikes pause”.

The other not-so-good news, particularly for realtors and sellers is that properties are still taking much longer to sell as compared to last year. As can be seen from the charts above, properties are having to be listed for longer and listings stay on the market for more days as compared to last year. Yes, there are exceptions where good properties with reasonable pricing are getting sold out faster, but the data shows longer listing times at least as per the more significant market-wide trends.

• Mortgage Updates

Mortgage rates have fallen mainly because of falling bond rates, which in turn have fallen as a response to the US regional banking issues. 5 yr fixed rates are in the low 4s now making it a good time to lock in rates. These are my current most popular mortgage rates:

• New purchases: 4.29% (5 yr fixed) | 4.69% (3 yr fixed) | 5.65% (5 yr variable) 
• Refinances: 4.94% (5 yr fixed) or 5.04% (3 yr fixed) | 6.3% (5 yr variable)
• Investment properties: 4.94% (5 yr fixed)| 5.9% (5 yr variable)

As always, for a full list of my most recent and updated interest rates, please visit ronmortgages.com/rates

Some of the mortgage offers that are available at this time include:

• Further rate decreases based on borrower, property and mortgage type
• Cash back options of up to $4000 for certain mortgages

As always, please ask any questions you might have or leave general feedback in the comments below. And, please reach out in case you or anyone you might know is looking for a mortgage. Until next time.