To our dear clients, friends, and family,

 

We hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and we wish you all the best for the New Year.

We want to take this moment to thank all of our clients for their unwavering support—past, present, and future. We love working in this career, and we could not do it without you.

Like many industries, the real estate market saw low activity throughout 2023. The Toronto Real Estate Board experienced its slowest year since 2000, and our population has grown significantly since then. While the market was depressed throughout 2023, we are hopeful it will rebound in 2024. To kick off the New Year, we have major changes to our Real Estate Act, which will make it easier for buyers and sellers to work with Realtors. We also expect interest rates to drop in the spring/summer. These two catalysts could help us return to a more normal volume of annual sales.

Analyzing Market Stats: December 2023 compared to December 2022

Sales: 3444 compared to 3090 — 11% increase
Average Sale Price: $1,084,692 compared to $1,050,569 — 3% increase
New Listings: 3886 compared to 4161 — 6 % drop
Active Listings: 10,370 compared to 8,745 — 18 % increase
Sales To New Listings Ratio: 88.63% compared to 74.26% (This looks at sales/new listings. The higher the number the more likely we’re in a seller’s market, and the lower the number, the more likely we’re in a buyer’s market).
Months Of Inventory: 3.01 months of inventory compared to 2.8. (This looks at active listings/sales. The higher the number, the more likely we’re in a buyer’s market, and the lower the number, the more likely we’re in a seller’s market).

The real estate market constantly surprises us. In our previous newsletter, we discussed how inventory was building up over September, October, and November, which was pushing us into a buyer’s market. There was a lot of hesitation in the market, with some realtors and buyers assuming this build up of inventory was going to push down home prices. Prices dropped marginally, but with inventory dropping from 19,540 at its peak in October, to 10,370 in December, we think many sellers are taking their homes off the market to try again in the New Year.

For those of you who are curious to see the stats for the past 13 months, you can review them here.

 

Out with REBBA 2002 and in with TRESSA 2002: A New Era in Real Estate

Ontario welcomed the New Year with a new real estate act—TRESSA 2002. This act aims to strengthen professionalism in the industry, address service quality, and reduce conflicts of interest. It is also aimed at reducing misrepresentation and unethical practices in real estate.

One significant change Ontarians will notice is in the advice realtors can offer to non-clients. Going forward, Realtors are limited when providing services, opinions, or advice to those not officially recognized as their clients.

Realtors can still discuss facts and public knowledge with potential clients, whicht includes providing home evaluations and newsletters like this. However, for the specialized advice that you need when buying or selling a home, you need to become a client of a Realtor.

All potential buyers and sellers in Ontario are now required to read the RECO Information Guide if they are looking for advice when buying or selling a home. Take a look at the guide here.

 

We are now allowed to disclose offer contents:

In a noteworthy change, sellers can decide whether or not to disclose the contents of offers during bidding wars. They can only share non-identifying information such as price, deposit, closing date, and offer conditions.

If the seller decides to disclose some, or all of the offer contents, all bidders must receive the exact same information.

It’s also important to note, the seller’s agent can disclose different parts of different offers in their communications. A disclosure could look like: “The highest price received is $1,000,000. The highest deposit is $150,000. The best closing date is March 3rd, 2024. And, the best conditions is in an offer with no condition of finance or home inspection.” It’s important to read between the lines because the offer with the highest price might not be the offer with the best conditions.

The real estate landscape in 2023 presented unique challenges and shifts. As we enter 2024, we remain committed to providing you with insightful updates and expert guidance. The market’s resilience, coupled with regulatory changes like TRESSA, underscores the importance of informed decision-making. As always, we are here to navigate these changes with you.

 

Wishing you a prosperous and joyous 2024!

Christo and Janette