Happy New Year everyone! This is my first blog post on this website and what better time to do so than early on in 2019! Numbers from Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) for December 2018. A quick comparison of the annual numbers, we notice a rather steep decline in both sales volume (-16.1%) and number of new listings (-12.7%). We can attribute these declines to the higher borrowing costs with the new mortgage stress test. Now, this has a profound affect on the market place and it greated affected the rental market indirectly. As many potential buyers have held off on making a purchase, they turn to the rental market which is already low on supply thus forcing prices to increase rapidly. With such high demands for condos as they're the most affordable spaces one can own these days, prices have hiked significantly over the past few years while house prices have plateaued a bit since last 2017 with price reductions out of the Toronto area. 

Here are some things to consider:

1. If you already own a condo, this is actually a pretty good time to consider thinking about upsizing to a townhouse or house simply due to the fact that condo prices are excellent right now while house prices are quite attainable in today's market.
2. If you are currently renting, rental prices won't be coming down anytime soon so if you can actually make a move to purchase, it's a good idea to pay your own principle rather than someone else's. 

Be sure to click on the attachment below!