brockm
Active Member
Toronto condo market loses steam as investors bolt
Urbanation, which tracks the Toronto market, reported today that the number of unsold new units hit a record at the end of the second quarter, at more than 18,100 units or about 20 per cent.
At the same time, sales of new units sank to their lowest since about mid-2010, down more than 20 per cent from the first quarter and a whopping 50 per cent from a year earlier, although last year's numbers were particularly strong. And over the course of the first six months of the year, sales are at their second-highest level ever.
Notably, the so-called absorption rate declined to the lowest since late 2008, the depths of the financial crisis.
That's because investors are dropping out, said Derek Holt and Dov Zigler of Bank of Nova Scotia.
"The not-for-occupancy investor that has been driving 45 per cent to 60 per cent of Toronto condo sales in recent years disappeared as the monthly net cash flow to financing and paying condo fees and then renting it out remains negative while rental rates and prices flatten out," they said.
What a super awesome sign of healthy demand -- when half of all buyers have no intention of living in the units!