Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! A new mortgage stress test? Don’t bother me with those peasant details. After Canada’s property bubble attracted global criticism, they announced tighter mortgage lending. On April 8, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) said they would make the stress test harder. By the following Monday, the first bank launched a pilot mortgage program to increase the maximum mortgage size. They just didn’t do it... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! Canada’s national housing agency isn’t just forecasting price declines, they’re preparing for them. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced changes to its mortgage insurance. Homebuyers with less than 20% down should now expect lower debt service maximums, a more stringent credit quality check, and a ban on borrowing down payments. If those sound like good things, that’s because they... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! Well the new norm at the moment in Canada and in most parts of the world is to work from home. Companies have witnessed that their employees are happy plus more productive working from home, everyone has realised that their daily routine of getting dressed, gulping their breakfast and stressing to beat the morning and after work traffic is not stressful anymore. Individuals have now been able to spend time with their families working from home,... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! The Canadian economy has been leaning more and more on real estate these days. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows gross domestic product (GDP) was flat in February. Despite the flat growth, real estate advanced and significantly outperformed the general economy. Who Cares About February? We know, February was like, totally forever ago – and basically in a different universe. Even more so, it feels like a delayed... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! Greater Toronto new home sales were busy last month, but are expected to slow. Altus Group data shows new home sales nearly doubled last year’s volume in March. The rise in sales was met with no new project launches, causing inventory to tighten. Many buyers shrugged off the pandemic, but the firm’s analysts expect the enthusiasm to fall off in the following months. Condo Prices Rise Over 25%, Detached Prices... [read more]

Canadians got temporary price relief, but it could be a sign of more serious issues brewing. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) reported one of the largest declines in the history of the consumer price index (CPI) for March. The decline puts the index’ growth to one of the lowest levels in years. While low to no growth may be welcome from households, it could be an even further drag on credit growth. Inflation Versus Deflation Quick review of inflation and deflation for the... [read more]

Canada’s largest land registry operator saw Canadian real estate prices moving higher. The Teranet–National Bank of Canada House Price Index (HPI) shows prices increased in March. Analysts from the creator of the index warned the pandemic is likely to have an abrupt shift soon. As the lockdown carries on, they expect the index to cool in almost every market – especially those in Eastern Canada. The Index Is Expected To Cool Over The Next Few Months It’s... [read more]

Despite a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people in Toronto still bought a home. Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) data shows a big increase in March sales. The rise in sales was due to the first-half of the month, prior to the board’s request to stop face-to-face activity. Despite the request, thousands of people still went out and bought a house afterwards. Greater Toronto Real Estate Prices Rise Double Digits The benchmark, a.k.a. the... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! Well writing a BLOG a very long time feels exciting and this time Im actually writing before everyone of the so called Professional Real Estate Agents have written their part of the negative, pessimistic story. Not to critcize anyone, but most of the times its so upsetting that I get calls from all walks of life with worry in their voices and negativity in their minds. Anyways, having said all this. Its evident that the government is... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! Toronto real estate is starting to look like two completely different markets. Numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) show that the condo market isn’t suffering from the same soft indicators as the detached market. Actually, condos are now the fastest rising segment of housing in the city, with some neighbourhoods seeing year-over-year price increases in excess of 50%. Generally speaking condos saw higher prices,... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! The Toronto real estate bloodbath hit the detached market the worst. Toronto Real Estate Board(TREB) numbers show buyers had a major shift in sentiment in June. Generally speaking, Toronto’s detached market saw softer price growth, plummeting sales, and soaring inventory. Detached Prices Are Still Up 24% Year-Over-Year   Prices are still chugging along, at least for now. The detached benchmark price across TREB was... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! Despite a number of people throwing down the terms “correction” and “crash,” not a lot of people know what these terms mean. Just so we’re all on the same page, we thought we’d put together a quick guide. This way you millennials will understand what all of those old bears mean (or if they’re just making s**t up). What Is A Real Estate Correction?   A real estate correction is... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! My BLOGS and comments are usually very controversial and I receive alot of comments either criticizing my thought or appreciating the other side of the stone thought. I always believe that each one of us should think differently and open our thought processes to understand every issue. Optimistically thinking and thinking out of the box leads to many new ideas and methods of facing challenges.  In my recent BLOGS, I always been very... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! ‘The housing bubble has burst’: Economist warns market imbalances are threat to economy in long run Those booming housing markets may make some homeowners rich and provide a short-term boost to the economy, but a Canadian economist is warning about the long-term impact on the country. David Madani, of Capital Economics, said in a report out Friday that while the housing boom supported the economy through the oil shock... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! GTA builders warn of looming housing shortage Census data reveals the community has grown 30 per cent in the last five years. There’s a housing supply shortage looming in the Toronto area. That’s the warning the head of the association for new home builders has been issuing every chance he gets in recent months. Even with a “making-it-happen attitude” it will take five to seven years to get the supply of... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! Amid record prices for new detached homes that soared 27.5 per cent in 2016, Toronto builders say they could sell even more houses but they just don’t have them. The Building Industry Land Development Association, which has about 1,400 members in the land development, home building and professional renovation industry, says the average sale price of a detached home in the Greater Toronto Area climbed about $273,000 in 2016 to... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! The Toronto real estate market just keeps rolling like a runaway train. Coming off a record-setting 2016, more of the same is in store this year. According to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), the average price of a Toronto home is expected to increase from approximately $730,000 to $825,000 over the course of 2017. The rate of increase could be even higher for detached homes, for which supply is extremely... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! 2016 was one of the most intense real estate markets Canada has ever seen, so we thought we’d assemble a picture of how the country did. Using the last year of data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), we compared major markets vs the national average. What we found was Canadian real estate soared at the fastest pace in a decade, and prices across the country reached dizzying new heights. Greatest Price... [read more]

Hello ! Welcome to T. A. Zaidi's BLOG ! First-time buyers got hit last month when the Fed implemented new mortgage rules. Now the BC government is throwing them a bone using a new, controversial downpayment scheme. Using taxpayer money, the province will use an estimated $1.6 billion to finance up to half of the downpayment on a high leverage mortgages. While the scheme is hailed as a huge benefit by some, there are significant concerns you should consider before jumping... [read more]