It’s that time of year where we all look back on the past 12 months and reflect before casting our gaze forward to the coming year.
Toronto’s real estate market was a roller coaster in 2018. In the spring, numbers were way down compared to the roaring start of 2017, which saw a market frenzy before the Fair Housing Act came into play. 2018’s prices and number of sales didn’t start to stabilize until July.
Well-maintained homes in hot neighbourhoods, especially in the east end, sold quickly, and condos continued to sell at a crazy pace and for significantly higher prices.
Here are my predictions for 2019:
The market for detached homes will be flat. In November, the average price for a detached home in the GTA was up by 1.8% compared to 2017. I think that increase could be even lower this coming year.
Condos will continue to rise in price. In December 2018, the average price of a condo in the central Toronto core was $835,622, representing at 18% increase over the previous year. That’s huge! The GTA at large saw an increase of 11.5%. If you’re waiting for prices to drop before buying a condo, it’s probably not the best strategy.
We keep hearing predictions that the condo market can’t continue to grow like that. Well, “King Toronto Condos,” a new development at King and Spadina boasts an average price of $1604 a square foot! The population continues to grow. We need places to live. Condos are going to increase in value again in 2019 and not by a small amount.
The next hot neighbourhoods:
- Anything along the Eglinton LRT line is a good investment and will increase in value as the LRT nears completion.
- It looks like the downtown relief line is going to happen. Most neighbourhoods that surround it already are doing very well, but there’s room for growth.
- Pockets in Leslieville, Riverdale, and Gerrard St. East will continue to be highly sought after neighbourhoods.
- Other hoods on my radar screen are the Junction, with a few new condo developments, and Sterling/Perth Avenue where we’ll likely see an influx of buyers once Museum of Contemporary Art opens.
There’s no golden rule when it comes to the Toronto real estate market. I’m looking forward to what we’ll see in 2019!
