But you'll still need a million bucks to get one
Canadian regulators tightened mortgage rules to start the year and it comes after months of a slowdown in Toronto housing prices.
Fears of a crash in the summer months have abated but the market is still soft and today's headlines won't help. The Toronto real estate board reported that detached house prices fell 3.9% in the city and 12.0% in the suburbs for a total of a 9.1% drop. The average sale was still a whopping $970,823. In the suburbs, a buyer from last year would be around $100,000 underwater already.
The drop was mitigated by a rise in condo prices so the total for all homes was just a 4.1% y/y decline. Still it's the first year-over-year decline in years for Toronto housing. Over the next few months, the comps will get even tough (prices peaked in spring) so the headlines could make buyers have a rethink and remind home owners that they're not as wealthy as they thought.
It might also be a reason for the BOC to be cautious.
Here's the latest release on the sales numbers.
