Jamie Henry
Other
Construction of condos in the Greater Toronto Area has ended the year on a high. Following some tough conditions at the start of 2014, not least from the freezing conditions, the market has grown sharply. Although the analysts don’t agree on an exact number they all put it around 20,000 with an increase of almost a third year-over-year. Urbanation, which estimates 21,500 units were completed this year, says that’s around 5,000 higher than average and with almost 500 projects currently underway across the GTA there should be plenty of supply in 2015 too. One of the factors driving condo demand in the GTA is positioning of developments in close proximity to transit links, popular especially with young professionals and families. Average prices have been rising of course with TREB figures showing a year-over-year increase of 12 per cent across the whole GTA to $310,220.
Canadians less optimistic of growing house prices
The latest figures from the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index show growing pessimism over property prices. The index is based on weekly telephone polling and the latest data, for last week, shows that 34.7 per cent of respondents believe home prices will be higher in six months, that’s down from 37.8 per cent in the week earlier. Those who felt prices would go down increased to 13.9 per cent, a rise of 0.6 per cent from the previous week. When asked about the economy overall 29.9 per cent felt that it would not be stronger in six months, up from 26.4 per cent a week earlier. The low oil price is the main factor in falling optimism with a slowdown in the energy sector and lower oil revenues for government among the concerns.
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