We asked nine of the city’s top real estate experts for their thoughts on what the market will bring in the months ahead. They gave their input on everything from investing to the likelihood of a seller’s market and where housing prices are headed for spring. Realtors Barry Cohen, President of Re/Max Realtron Barry Cohen Homes Inc., Anya Ettinger, realtor at Bosley Real Estate Ltd. and Michael Kalles, president of Harvey Kalles Real Estate, predict what’s coming for the year ahead:
BARRY COHEN: I think that it’s inevitable housing prices will continue to rise. It just won’t stop. When I was in my 20s, I think, 11 per cent was our normal. And now we’re looking at 5 and 6 per cent. And I think it’s really about an adjustment. If rates don’t come down, I hope Benjamin is right — and I do believe he is — but if they don’t come down, there will be an adjustment because you have other forces like the baby boomers, wealth inheritances, money being passed down to the children. That’s a force. Immigrants are a force. Interest rates at 6 per cent are so bad, but once you get down to 2.75 per cent, watch out. So I think that Toronto Real Estate Board will probably have about 80,000 in sales. They’re predicting 77,000. And I think prices will go up somewhere between 8 and 10 per cent this year.
ANYA ETTINGER: We talked about detached homes but we didn’t really talk about your average starter home, your Leslieville semi, your 25-foot house in midtown. Those are already seeing a massive surge in demand. There are houses that are getting 20 to 30 offers. We’re seeing some of the same trends that we saw in late 2021, early 2022 — people are disregarding recent sales and they are doing anything and everything that they can to get the house. The speculation of rates dropping and whether that will be in June, before or after, is already there. People want to beat the rush. So unless there is a massive shift in what’s going on over the next few months — a huge dump of supply for instance — I can’t imagine that momentum will slow down.
MICHAEL KALLES: My predictions are a little bit longer than short-term. They’re medium- and long-term predictions, and I’m incredibly bullish on the market. I think, if we look into the crystal ball, we all see what the story is. The rates are going to come down. All these people have been sitting on the sidelines. These buyers are going to rush back into the market. There’s very little supply on the resale and, as Brad said, on the new home sales side. It’s going to the prices up, and housing prices are going to go up exorbitantly, and people are going to be telling the same story that we told two and three years ago. There’s nothing available to buy. And I believe, and Brad may disagree, that all of this supply, all of the condo supply that we’re talking about now that’s sitting stagnant, that’s all going to be eaten up within the next probably year to year and a half, maybe two years.
This is an excerpt from Post City’s 17th annual Real Estate Roundtable in partnership with the Rotman School of Management. Click here for more excerpts from the panel or listen to the discussion at the podcast below. Special thanks to our incredible sponsor The RE/MAX Collection.
