It might be the final hurrah before the ultimate demise, but going by the fervor in the following pitch, it seems a lot of people will get sucked in. A friend of mine who has some interest in condos in the Toronto area sent this mail:
Prices are rising fast. JUNE MLS SALES HIT ANSTONISHING HEIGHTS!
We have been pounding the table since January that all the signs were clearly pointing to a fast real estate recovery in Toronto.
At that time, we were starting to see growth month-over-month in sales, but the “chicken littles” in the media and financial community were still promoting the doomsday scenario with an apocalyptic fervor. My advice had been for buyers to enter the market as soon as possible.
With some leftover motivated fall ’08 sellers and crazy interest rates - it was a great time to buy, a fleeting setback in a rising,long-term, bull real estate marketplace. My prediction was for the real estate market to settle down and start rising again, represented by a strong
seller’s market by fall ‘09. I also indicated that Toronto’s development sites, which buyers have avoided like the plague for the past year, were going to get very busy by the fall. Well, I was 100% correct about all of it, except that the real estate recovery happened a little faster than I predicted back in January. June ’09 MLS sales were nothing short of spectacular. Almost 11,000 (10,955) homes were sold. This represents an all-time high. Keep in mind that June is
typically the 4th or 5th strongest month of the year. We are smack dab in the middle of a seller’s market. Most properties sell in a few days, many with multiple offers. Prices are rising fast. I expect that for the balance of 2009, we are going to see strong numbers. Currently, the time to sell, or number of days on the market, has fallen to an average of 33 days. Chronic inventory shortage exists in most areas.
What is now going to happen is a surge in new development sales. July and August will set the tone for a busy fall when I predict that over 1000 units per month will sell for the next several months. Buyers still have a great opportunity to purchase at rock bottom prices at most of the city’s new sites.
The inventory of ‘leftover’ suites is shrinking. Pricing at all of the city’s developments are going to start to rise. New development prices are currently 10-15% lower than
resale prices. This margin will close to nothing in 3-4 months with the strengthening new development marketplace. I predict that some new developments will be launched
in the fall and several will come to market next spring. It appears to me that our economy in mending quite nicely and by late fall we will be back to business as usual.
Despite what some doomsdayers still predict, the U.S. and the world is in a better place economically. We are now in a recovery mode. By 2010, the negative prognosticators will be
safely trotted back to their dark little holes where they spend the majority of their lives, having enjoyed their fleeting 9 months in the sun. “June ’09 MLS sales were
nothing short of spectacular... Most properties sell in a few days, many with multiple offers.
