Condo Market Report - August 2021

As we previously forecasted, sales in July continued to slow from the previous month. TRREB reported 9390 sales, down 15% from July of last year and 15% from June. On the other hand, July sales were the biggest since 2016 for the month. Looking forward, we expect August sales to be even lower than July. The true test of sales activity will be in September when we are expecting sales to increase from summer levels.

With lower sales, most other markets would expect lower prices. Not in real estate. Most sellers prefer to take their listing off the market rather than reduce the price. The slow down in the current real estate market is from a lack of listing product. One of the key metrics is the ratio of sales to new listings in July. Anything above 60% is a ‘sellers’ market. We are at 75%. In fact, new listings in July were the lowest in the past 6 years.

When you look at the condo market, July sales were 8% higher than for July of last year and were down only 7% from June. The condo market, which under performed the overall market in 2020, is now outperforming the market this year. At the same time, new listings this July are down by 21% from this time a year ago. With a sale to new listing ratio of 62%, it suggests that there may be more opportunities for buyers in this segment.

The downtown condo market has also rebounded along with the overall condo market. Sales are 10% higher than a year ago and the sale to new list ratio has improved to 59%. More significantly, active listings in 2021 are now down over 35% from a year ago. Inventory is shrinking quickly as people are preparing to return to living downtown, and those who have moved out of town need some sort of accommodation if their employer wants them to work out of the office.