Last month, the GTA’s share of neighbourhoods in overbidding territory declined for the third month in a row, despite the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cut.
25-basis-point cut not enough ‘to jolt more life into a housing market facing affordability challenges & (many) listings’
According to Wahi, of the 300 GTA neighbourhoods with at least five home sales in June, 27 per cent experienced overbidding transactions, down from 36 per cent in May and 39 per cent in April. 71 per cent were in underbidding territory, and the remaining 2 per cent sold at asking.
“One 25-basis-point rate cut is not enough to jolt more life into a housing market that faces affordability challenges and a pile-up of listings,” says Wahi CEO Benjy Katchen.
Katchen notes that there were 24,000 active listings on the market last month, the most in several years. “Buyers who are shopping have more selection than they have at any time in the past five years, so it’s no surprise that bidding competition is subdued.”
Eight neighbourhoods in overbidding territory for condominiums
Although single-family homes continued to see more bidding activity than condominiums, the difference between them shrunk last month.
For single-family homes, 39 per cent of neighbourhoods were in overbidding territory, down from 53 per cent in May. For condominiums, seven per cent of neighbourhoods (eight in total) were in overbidding territory, compared to 11 per cent in May.
June’s top 5 GTA overbidding neighbourhoods
Like in May, most top five overbidding neighbourhoods this time were located in the York Region (Doncrest, Rouge Woods, Royal Orchard, and Milliken Mills West). These neighbourhoods generally had lower price points than those that were mostly underbid.
June’s top 5 GTA underbidding neighbourhoods
As for the top underbidding neighbourhoods last month, two Peel region areas — Mineola and Huttonville — came up in June (whereas May had three pricier Oakville neighbourhoods in the top five).
What is the point of lowering the rate if housing prices will increase even more.
What the GTA needs is a lowering of the average price to make homes more affordable. The lowering of rates say 1/2 point will not be a saviour for the housing market.