Toronto’s housing market has been in a state of torpor for some months, with tens of thousands of homes up for sale and hardly anyone buying them — a far cry from the stiff competition and blind demand that once was.
Though there is still the odd bidding war, buyers enjoying a bit more of an upper hand have been able to offer less than the unreasonable prices the region is known for. In fact, around 70 per cent of houses and condos in the gTA are now going for less than their listing amounts, according to new data from Wahi.
The real estate agency’s latest stats on underbidding and overbidding from August show that the former is now the norm in the Toronto area, with 89 per cent of neighbourhoods now considered to be in underbidding territory.
Both of these percentages are above the figures from the previous month, as well as from August of last year.
The neighbourhoods where buyers were most successful in offering less than sellers hoped last month are Eastlake in Oakville, where the median underbid amount was a whopping $186,500; Toronto’s Hogg’s Hollow and York Mills, where underbid amounts were $130,000 and $113,000; and Catchet in Markham and Port Credit in Mississauga, where this number was $99,000.
The neighbourhoods where underbidding amounts were highest in August, from Wahi.
On the flip side, the communities where homes were most overbid were Rouge Woods in Richmond Hill (overbid by an average of $123,000), The Danforth and Parkwoods in Toronto (overbid by about $116,000 and $52,000, respectively), Raymerville in Markham ($41,000) and Doncrest in Richmond Hill ($28,500).
“It looks like Greater Toronto Area home sellers may be getting less stubborn about the offers they’re willing to accept from buyers, as homes that change hands for less than the list price are accounting for a growing share of overall sales,” the firm wrote in a release about their findings on Thursday.
The neighbourhoods where overbidding amounts were highest in August, from Wahi.
It adds that recent interest rate cuts and the promise of more have yet to inspire buyers to jump on properties in the city like they used to, and that “overall bidding competition is further cooling in the region.”
But Wahi’s CEO warns that just because you may be able to purchase a home below asking doesn’t mean that you are necessarily getting a deal, as listing a property for more than its realistic value is a common practice in the industry, especially in a city as overpriced as Toronto.
Additionally, he writes that “despite more homes selling below asking last month, the median price of $935,000 was roughly unchanged from a year ago.”
