Vacant Home Tax

Vacant Home Tax

An annual tax will be levied on vacant Toronto residences, payable beginning in 2023.

A property is considered vacant if it was not used as the principal residence by the owner(s) or any permitted occupant(s), or was unoccupied for a total of six months or more during the previous calendar year. Properties may also be deemed (or considered to be) vacant if an owner fails to make a declaration of occupancy status as outlined in the bylaw .

The goal of the City of Toronto’s Vacant Home Tax (VHT) is to increase the supply of housing by discouraging owners from leaving their residential properties […] Read more

July 2022 Real Estate Market Update

July 2022 Real Estate Market Update

Sales Numbers

Overall, in Toronto and GTA sales were down 47% from same time last year. Market had the lowest sales volume in 20 years for the fourth consecutive month.

What is causing this?

Many buyers are sitting on the sideline as Bank of Canada is continuing on raising interest rate. This upward trend on interest rate is not an ideal environment for buyers as their budget and monthly carrying cost is changing rapidly. I expect once Bank of Canada stabilize their interest rate hike and reach neutral rate, buyers will have to re-baseline their budget and start searching for properties at that […] Read more

Real estate slowdown in Toronto, Vancouver continues, as prices fall from pre-rate hike highs

Real estate slowdown in Toronto, Vancouver continues, as prices fall from pre-rate hike highs

Average selling price in Greater Toronto Area has fallen by 14 per cent since February!

The slowdown underway in Canada’s two most expensive housing markets continued in June, with new numbers showing the number of homes sold in Toronto and Vancouver fell by more than a third, and average prices have now declined for several months in a row.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) said 6,474 homes were sold in the Greater Toronto Area last month, down by 41 per cent compared with last June.

As was the case in many parts of Canada, house prices in and around Toronto exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, […] Read more

Bank of Canada Makes 0.5% Rate Hike For 2nd Announcement in a row

Bank of Canada Makes 0.5% Rate Hike For 2nd Announcement in a row

As widely expected by economists, the Bank of Canada implemented another half-point interest rate increase in today’s rate policy announcement, embarking on the tightest hiking cycle seen in decades and reinforcing its commitment to tame runaway inflation growth.

The 50-basis-point hike — the second consecutive, following the April 13 announcement — brings the bank’s trend-setting Overnight Lending Rate to 1.5%, which will in turn filter down to the big consumer banks’ variable-rate pricing; the Prime rate is expected to rise to 3.7% following today’s news, from the current 3.2%. The BOC also stated it will continue to allow holdings to drop off its […] Read more

Real Estate Roundup!

May new home sales gain 2.2% from April

Sales of new single-family houses in May 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 546,000, which is up 2.2% from April, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. — From Housing Wire

3 ways to tame student loan debt and afford a mortgage

It’s no secret that student loans can make buying a home a challenge. But what exactly is the problem, and how can buyers overcome it? The problem is that student loans can be included in the buyer’s debt-to-income […] Read more