While 2009 is still in its infancy there is one trend that seems to be making itself prevalent.
The most common occurrence to sweep the very early stages of this new year has involved moving from downtown to one of the GTA’s suburbs. You see, many of those buyers that purchased downtown area condos sometime between 2005 and early-to-mid 2008 have reached the next stage of their lives, which means the time has now come for them to upgrade, as visions of wedding bells and white picket fences begin dancing in their heads.
The reason this trend has seemed to take on steam as of late is because many of these same Torontonians have begun to really understand what this buyer’s market is all about. Take Amy and David for instance, who currently own a condo in the downtown core. Originally they were quite disheartened to realize that the recent economic troubles have dropped the value of their condo from $300,000 to $285,000. Selling for $15,000 less was, at first, a very good reason to put their lives on hold. What Amy and David both soon realized, however, was that while the price of their condo has in fact tailed off, so too has the price of that dream home of theirs, in Oakville. What really put them into a happy frenzy was when they realized that while their modest $300,000 condo had dropped only $15,000, that gorgeous Oakville home had dropped from $550,000 closer to $500,000. So they’re actually in a better position to make the move now than they had been previously. This same realization has been revealing itself to many of Toronto’s condo owners.
If this trend continues to gain momentum, eventually those most popular suburbs, like Oakville for instance, should see a stabilization of prices at the very onset of the market’s return to prominence.
– Amit is a Realtor/Developer with Re/Max. amitp@rogers.com
