Bold Market Predictions & Rental Chaos

🔮 TRREB Predicts Buyer-Friendly Market This Year

• TRREB forecasts an average GTA home price of $1,147,000 for 2025, a 2.6% increase from 2024.

• Home sales are expected to rise 12.4% to 76,000 transactions in 2025.

• Single-family homes, including detached, semi-detached, and townhouses, are expected to see higher price growth than condos.

• Buyer sentiment remains stable, with 28% saying they are “likely” and 9% saying they are “very likely” to buy a home in 2025.

• 42% of buyers will be first-time buyers, with many expected to focus on condos.

• Two-thirds of renters say they won’t tolerate further rent hikes before considering homeownership.

Why This Matters: Slower price growth and lower interest rates could make 2025 a better buyer entry point. Investors holding condos may face flat or declining prices, while single-family homes could appreciate faster.

🏦 More Buyers Ditch Banks for Mortgage Brokers

• 48% of homebuyers in Canada now use mortgage brokers, up from 43% in 2023.

• Non-bank mortgage lending surged 19%, from $338B in Q3 2020 to $401B in Q3 2024.

• Alternative lenders, once for high-risk borrowers, now attract prime borrowers with steady incomes.

• Interest rates for alternative mortgages are 100-300 basis points higher than traditional banks.

• Business owners often use alternative lenders to borrow more while minimizing taxable income.

• Alternative lenders provide short-term financing for buyers who purchase before selling their homes.

Why This Matters: More borrowing options allow investors with non-traditional income streams to access capital. Higher mortgage rates from alternative lenders mean investors must weigh short-term flexibility against long-term costs. Tighter lending rules at banks may push more investors toward private and alternative lenders.
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💀 Toronto’s Infamous Massey Murder Home

• In real estate, homes linked to crimes, deaths, or hauntings are called stigmatized properties, making them harder to sell.

• 169 Walmer Road in Toronto, known as the Massey Murder House, gained notoriety after housemaid Carrie Davies shot and killed Bert Massey on the front steps in 1915.

• The home was listed for C$3,199,900 on February 16, 2021, but removed from the market by June 4, 2021, suggesting it struggled to find a buyer.

• While some regions require sellers to disclose a home’s dark history, Ontario follows a "buyer beware" policy, meaning sellers don’t have to reveal past crimes.

• Studies show that homes connected to violent crimes can lose up to 17% of their value, often forcing sellers to lower prices to attract buyers.

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🫣 53,000 Cases Backlogged at Ontario Rental Tribunal

• Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) has a backlog of 53,000 cases, delaying tenant and landlord disputes for months.

• Landlords face long delays in evicting non-paying tenants, leading some to lose thousands of dollars in unpaid rent.

• Tenant protections allow "professional tenants" to exploit delays, staying rent-free while dragging out eviction cases.

• The Ontario government is spending $6.5 million to add 40 new adjudicators and other staff to speed up the LTB process.

  
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🤔 WTF of The Week: A $595K Precon Disaster

Last week, we shared the story of a pre-construction buyer getting stiffed with occupancy fees—aka phantom rent—while waiting for his building to be fully registered.

This week, it gets even worse. Some buyers aren’t just paying outrageous fees—they’re finding out their condos are worth hundreds of thousands less than they paid.

Take Joe Baradziej, a Toronto buyer who put down $439,000 for a pre-construction condo in Leaside. Now that it’s time to close, the unit has appraised for $1.6M—nearly $600K less than what he agreed to pay.

That means lenders will only give him a mortgage based on the new lower value, leaving him with a $595,000 gap to cover. His options? Find a way to pay up, or walk away and lose his deposit.

With over 30,000 new condo units set to hit the market this year, this isn’t just a one-off situation—it’s a trend. How many more pre-construction buyers are about to learn the hard way?

🛠 Our Trusted Providers

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Trustii

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Zown

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Cardinal Law

The law firm for real estate investors in Ontario
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