The stress test is not having much of an effect
Despite the newly implemented tougher mortgage qualification rules, bidding wars continue to stoke the fires of the Canadian condo market, according to the chief executive of property listings portal Zoocasa.
In an interview with the Financial Post, Zoocasa CEO Lauren Haw said that the momentum from the market’s strong start this year lasted far beyond expectations.
“I don’t think that the stress test is having a big impact on activity levels,” Haw said. “We had a historically high March in terms of the number of sales across the country. I think what happened is, sellers really [came] into the market, yet we saw almost every single listing snatched up in March.”
Read more: Why a slower market could be good for all
Haw added that any “cooling” since then is only in comparison to this anomalous peak, as buyers continue to snap up newly listed homes almost immediately.
“We’ve seen a cooling in the number of sales since March, but I’m very cautious to say it was stress-test-related,” Haw said. “I believe it was more that we, quite frankly, sold some spring market sales in March across the country.”
This is especially apparent in the condo segment, which reached a nadir in terms of supply around February.
Despite an increase in condo inventory over the succeeding months, Haw said that single-detached housing was the predominant property type for sale around this time of the year, further eroding the supply of other housing types.
“If you list your home for sale right now, it’s likely that you will still get a historic price for it, and it will sell relatively easily,” Haw said.
