Real estate market was doing a yo-yo with home buyers and sellers this year, and even people with decades of experience in real estate and banking, have their jaws drop from time to time.
I am sure you've heard about the bold mortgage reforms that we haven't seen in over a decade. We, the realtors and mortgage professionals, have been lobbying for a very long time to bring these changes, but unfortunately, we were rejected for so long.
In August of 2024, first change was started with introducing 30 yrs amortization for the first time home buyers, but ONLY for pre-construction purchases.
To that i just say "meh". Not helpful since most of new housing products are way over a million and there are too many unknowns with builders these days. Some are canceling projects, some are going bankrupt etc.
However, the Government is kinda going in right direction, and lets pretend it is not because of upcoming elections:)
Effective December 15th 2024, price cap for insured mortgages will go up from 1 million to 1.5 million. Will that help? .... i say "meh" again... Even with the price cap being higher, the price point of freehold homes in GTA is so high, that first time home buyers will struggle to qualify for mortgages, and even if they do, many of them will be "house poor", due to high mortgage interest rates and monthly mortgage payments.
The one change that will hopefully help save from crashing real estate market again, is that the bank regulators will no longer require banks to stress test borrowers when switching lenders at renewals.
Many of us were worried that with today's interest rates and strict borrowing rules, great number of homeowners would have been forced to sell their homes, and we would have been flooded with listings, which would open those market crashing doors again.
Now, my opinion might sound not very optimistic, but I am not here to paint the window blue, so we don't see how gray is the day outside. :)
I am here to present the facts and see how we can turn this situation into our advantage. And, yes, that IS possible:) even in the greatest depression in 1920's, homes were selling and people made money too.
If you would like to know how you can buy and/or sell a property in this market, feel free to reach out and I will do my best to create a safe plan for you, your family, your friends and anyone else who might need to buy and sell this fall/winter.
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