Fall 2018 is shaping up to be an interesting season for the housing market

It’s still officially summer, but we all know that when Labour Day has come and gone and the kids are back in school, it’s fall, even if we still have a few warm days left. There are Halloween decorations in dollar stores, and some stores have their Christmas aisles set up a *cough” Michaels *cough*. So, we feel it’s not too early to feature some fall tips for homeowners!

For all of September, we’ll be focusing on home maintenance and renovations you should do in the fall, new and fresh home decor and design ideas from Jo-Ann Capelaci, gardening tips from Mark Cullen, and much more!

Of course, we’ll still be keeping a close eye on the new housing market. Fall is typically a busy season, and we already know about a few openings scheduled for this month and in October, including Phase 3 of Abbey Lane Towns in Markham by Poetry Living and Artworks Tower in Toronto by Daniels.

This summer, the new housing market slowed down quite a bit, even more so than usual because of the declining affordability of new condos. There were only 855 sales of new condos and 216 sales of new single-family homes in July 2018. With just a couple of new home launches, inventory also dropped, which will further affect affordability as demand continues to hold steady.

We’re hoping that there are enough fall launches this month and in October to give homebuyers more choices and keep housing prices steady. But, we did recently chat with the president of Bullpen Research & Consulting, Ben Myers, and he believes housing prices will continue rising for many reasons, potentially hitting $2,000 per square foot in downtown Toronto over the next few years!

There was also the Supreme Court ruling to reject the Toronto Real Estate Board’s appeal to keep sold data private. So, going into the fall market, homebuyers now have easier access to a property’s sales history. We’re not quite sure yet how this will impact housing prices. It could make for more realistic asking prices. Ben Myers thinks it will just result in more owners listing and buying privately and failing.

Fall 2018 is shaping up to be an exciting season, and we’ll be reporting on it and sharing seasonal tips all month, so stay tuned!