Toronto Real Estate Predictions: 2017 Edition

Every year, I write a blog predicting what I think will happen in the new year. We have more question marks and uncertainty right now than ever before, but I’m going to predict more of the same with a few twists along the way:

• Interest rates continue to rise. The government continues to intervene. And Toronto continues to show its resilience.
• The condo market continues its upward trend, as high prices push Buyers out of the house market. It becomes the norm to have bidding war dates for condos and by March, we’ve accepted that and aren’t even surprised when there are 3 offers on a condo that’s been on the market for 6 hours. 
• Domestic investors return to the pre-construction market where they can wait out the economy (and Trump) by a few years. They continue to invest in condos and continue to enjoy high rents.
• Your friends don’t laugh at you anymore when you live west of the Humber River or in Scarberia.  Areas outside of central Toronto become hot commodities: the condos along the Lakeshore West, Mimico, Etobicoke, Scarborough. 
• Townhouses continue to be in high demand and I predict that they’ll increase in price faster than semi detached houses in 2017.
• The detached house remains the pot of gold. Sellers hoard their detached houses, renovate and refuse to sell.

Pictured: Detached house in Toronto

• Luxury condos will continue to struggle to find their footing in Toronto, though an influx of international Buyers (both from the US and overseas Buyers looking to avoid putting their money in the US) may save this market.
• The rental market continues to be bananas. Rents increase. Tenants continue to be frustrated. It becomes impossible to live in central Toronto unless you’ve got a lot of coin or a roommate.
• Real-estate naysayers continue to be haters, and the media does their usual annual ‘the sky is falling’ media coverage in February and March. The sky doesn’t fall but they sell a lot of papers (umm, internet ads). 
• Marijuana is legalized in April (I’m going to take a wild guess here and vote that happens on April 20th, LOL). The legal dispensaries will be good for Toronto’s economy, and much like Denver, we’ll see a positive economic spin-off. Also: the demand for potato chips and Joe Louis will go up.

I’m also going to predict that the BREL team will OWN 2017:

• Buyers and Sellers will finally accept that buying and selling real estate doesn’t have to suck; that smart, competent, caring and fun people can come to the rescue…and that those people are the BREL team.
• We’ll sell their houses for more money than our competitors and we’ll win a disproportionate amount of bidding wars.  

What do you think will happen in 2017? Share in the comments below!