Change is in the air.

This will be good news for anyone in the GTA currently hoping to purchase a home. In the early months of 2022, inventory was incredibly tight and buyers bore the brunt of the fall out. The extra pressure on an already strained market drove the average home price from $1.15m to a shocking $1.33m in two short months. But, the pendulum has started to swing the other way, and the average price of a home in the GTA has started to deflate from its February peak.

At first blush, this change will seem incredibly scary to any hopeful sellers, but a closer look tells us that it’s not all bad news. Sure, April’s average of $1.25m may be a 3% decrease from the March average of $1.29m, but if we compare that to last year’s numbers, we’re still up a healthy 15% from April 2021’s average of 1.09m.

So why the change?

We could blame it on a number of factors: proposed government intervention impacting buyer confidence, demand pushed forward from last year’s record sales volume, rising interest rates, distraction from the market as people get back to “real life” post pandemic.

But it all amounts to the same: buyer sentiment is changing. After months of navigating an extreme seller’s market, buyers are exhausted. Couple that with rising interest rates–and promises of more increases to come–and you’ve got the perfect conditions for the buyers among us to be tapped out. Emotionally and financially.

But, the sky isn’t falling. When you’ve been in real estate as long as we have, you start to realize that these shifts aren’t an indication of terrible things to come. Markets are cyclical. Adjustments like this are normal and real estate is still (in our opinion) a very safe investment.

That’s not to say that we think you should rush out tomorrow to buy a property in Durham to flip 6 months from now. Real estate is about time in the market–not timing the market. And over the last 40 years, price growth in the GTA has averaged at ~6% per year. So, if you’re looking for longevity, you’ve got nothing to worry about.

If you’re a tired buyer reading this, please accept this piece of advice: do not disengage. This is not the time to pull back. The next few months are going to be full of opportunities for buyers– first timers and seasoned homeowners alike. We would hate for any of our clients to miss out on a great opportunity because of market exhaustion.

If you want to know more about how these changes impact your specific situation, let’s talk. We’re always happy to continue the conversation over a cup of coffee.