Homeowners wait for the market to come back or rent their homes.
Toronto homeowners are taking their houses off the market at a higher rate than this time last year, according to a new report.
The photo is from the National Post.
Canada's biggest housing market is slowing after a decade of rapid growth, as the number of canceled property listings increases across the Greater Toronto Area.
In June, 2,822 listings were scrapped, a 643-per-cent increase from the same month in the previous year.
According to the report, many sellers are still operating under the impression that this is a seller's market, so they are listing too high and not seeing any action.
Since March, the Bank of Canada has raised the benchmark interest rate by 2.25 percentage points. Higher mortgage costs have caused the housing markets to cool quickly. The Teranet-National Bank house price index shows that the year-over-year increase in Toronto has slowed.
Many sellers are still operating under the impression that this is a seller’s market, so they are listing too high and not seeing any action
Alex Hood, Strata realtor
It is within the homeowners' rights to end their listings if they no longer want to sell, or if the contract between them and the listing agent is about to end. At an unprecedented rate, sellers are opting to go this route.
Most sellers who have terminated their listings are waiting for a better time to re-list or make a hasty decision to rent out their property, according to Anna Wong. Real-estate experts say the inventory of apartment rentals has fallen since the beginning of the year.
Statistics Canada data shows that rents in Ontario are increasing at a faster rate than in the past. Rent increased at a slower rate in June than in May, but it was still the largest increase since 1989.
Many buyers have waited for a correction so they can join the market. Wong is betting on a rebound.
The Bank of Canada is less hopeful. The central bank expects housing to cut into economic growth in the next two years.
Policymakers said in the July monetary policy report that the housing market is slowing.
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