I spend a lot of time during the week speaking with Brokers of Record across North America and from Europe. The story is pretty much the same regardless of geography…a shortage of supply, massive demand, and price increases across the board. It’s every city in Canada, every city in the US, every city in Europe. 

That said, here’s an interesting stat that I think offers some additional insights to our market, in particular. The average sales price in Guelph is now twice that of Chicago. So, while the story is the same everywhere, there are varying degrees of intensity. Toronto and its surrounding areas are not just increasing in value, they are leading the way across North America.   

If we place that information alongside the Bank of Canada’s decision yesterday to hike interest rates to 0.5%, one can then speculate whether these measures will successfully take some steam out of a scorching hot real estate market. In my opinion, demand is so strong and supply so scarce that we won’t see much change. Plus, mortgage brokers have been so busy handling pre-approvals this past month, for buyers of all price points, that any impact of a rate hike won’t be felt for some time down the road. 

As I always say, you only need one buyer to make a sale. The demand is there. Even if some potential purchasers are pushed to the sidelines, it will take significant rate hikes to dampen it. This is a supply issue, and without a major influx of new listings, I expect prices to push higher through the spring as buyers rush to secure a home before additional hikes negatively affect their purchasing power.

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