Starting January 1st, 2017 first time homebuyers will receive a break on the Land Transfer Tax on their first home purchase.   In an effort to help first-time homebuyers—but not hurt the equilibrium of housing markets outside of Toronto—the Ontario Liberal government announced last fall that they will double the first-time homebuyers’ maximum Land Transfer Tax refund to $4,000.  This will mean that eligible homebuyers in Ontario would pay no Land Transfer... [read more]

Central Hamilton has become one of Ontario’s most intense hotspots for housing demand, if recent numbers are anything to go buy.   In its year-end sales update released Monday (February 6), the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington revealed that home prices in the area have posted spectacular growth from 2006 to 2016, increasing by 129.5 per cent.   This represented a staggering upsurge from a median cost of $120,529 (across all housing types) to $276,549 in just a... [read more]

The average sale price of detached homes in the Greater Toronto Area continued to soar last month, hitting a new record high as prices climbed in suburban communities surrounding Toronto. The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) reported Wednesday that the average detached house in the GTA sold for $1,214,422 last month, up 33.4 per cent from $910,375 in March last year. Coming weeks before Ontario is expected to unveil its spring budget, the March sales numbers will almost certainly add fuel... [read more]

In its first release since Ontario’s new housing plan, TREB releases Toronto market stats and provides update on influence of foreign buyers and short-term speculators. A total of 11,630 homes were sold in the GTA in April, down 3.2% year-over-year. New listings, meanwhile, were up 33.6%, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board. "The fact that we experienced extremely strong growth in new listings in April means that buyers benefitted from considerably more choice in... [read more]