Is now a good time to BUY my first home? (Toronto, Canada)

[Daniel Ghaffar]

Times are tough but my business has not seen the slowdown that many have (yet). I am accustomed to working from home as I have been doing so since I started my company a few years back. I have saved up enough for a large down payment and have been looking for a home since Jan/Feb 2020 but now that everything is the way it is, I'm wondering if I should wait for more "adjusting" in prices or act now before spring / summer brings on a new wave of buyers. Would anyone have advice for where they see the Toronto GTA (DURHAM) region market going for single family detached homes? I'm looking to purchase a home to be my primary residence and just would like to know if this is the right time or if there is a reason I should want for the market to go though further adjusting. From what I have noticed, there is very little inventory on the market and homes are selling for asking price or a few thousand less. Only 5% of homes are selling for above asking (given they have something special about them). 

[Kam Lolavar]

I think you should take note of a few things whenever you’re considering investing in real estate. One is the duration of your investment; if you were telling me that you want to go in for a flip or a reno, I would have had a different approach, however, buying a home is a rather long-term investment. If there’s only one good thing about real estate it’s the fact that it is a winner in the long run no matter when you buy.

Another thing that we tell our clients is that you can never (and should never) try to time the market. Toronto’s market has already enjoyed some discounts from March to April and it might/might not do so in the coming months. Real estate usually has a 2-3 month lag and follows other economy indicators. If you have been following the stock market, you - like me - might have been surprised by the rally even though any report that’s coming out is painting a rather grim picture. People, in the COVID-19 case, are betting on the future instead of what’s happening now. Needless to mention that financing is still very very attractive and banks are still willing to give mortgages to buyers. You never know when that’s going to change. 
I think at the end of the day, you should be very proactively in the market now looking for the right deal and grab it the minute it presents itself to you. I know that everyone’s at home now and very limited physical activity but you’ll only need a computer and the right data to be able to take the first steps and there’s always a time that we take our clients to physically look at a property, when everything is in order and ready to wrap up. I advise that you do the same. 

Good luck and feel free to reach out to me if I could be of any help.