There has been A LOT of  media coverage on the recent decline of the Toronto real estate market. Whether you look at the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Life, BNN or any evening news, you will undoubtedly see something about the falling real estate market, declining prices and reduced volume.

The condo market is getting a lot of the coverage due to the record number of condos being started and completed. Liberty Village is at the epicentre of the downtown Toronto condo market (as far as we are concerned) and is certainly not immune to market fluctuations.

The founders of LibertyVillageToronto.com (Michael Camber and Heikki Walden) are active Realtors in Liberty Village and have been since 2003. We have seen a lot of development and changes over the past 10 years and for the most part, a consistently strong real estate market here.

We have just come off of a challenging fall market. Traditionally, the fall market lasts from right after Labour Day and runs till about mid-December. During this time we sell a lot of Liberty Village condos. This past fall was a little different. By the end of October the market had fizzled to a slow crawl. We were still listing condos but buyers were scarce and many of those that were active were attempting low-ball offers based on non-existent pricing strategies. Inventory began to rise and sellers began to drop their prices. But not by nearly as much as you would think.

Happily, we sold all of our inventory ahead of the holiday break and prices remained generally stable with perhaps a 3-4% decrease in some cases (but not the 15% decrease some of our low-ball offers reflected).

Looking ahead for 20013 we are predicting things to stay pretty flat. We are not anticipating consistent 4% gains per year as we have seen over the past 10 years. Nor are we predicting significant losses or price drops. We will see an ongoing increase in listing inventory as our new buildings complete and occupy. We always see a little a mini-bubble soon after a new building registers and we have quite a few finishing in rapid succession here in Liberty Village. There will be some value for buyers and sellers will need to truly differentiate themselves from the rest of the available Liberty Village listings on MLS.

At last check there were 70 condos for sale in Liberty Village. Should you decide to sell yours you need that absolute best market strategy and representation available and you simply won’t get that from shopping for the cheapest Realtor you can find. Like any other professional service, you get what you pay for with real estate agents and you will need the best available in this market. If you need us you can find us through CamberWalden.com, LibertyVillageCondo.com or at [email protected].

Even though Jim Faherty made changes to mortgage lending rules that did have an affect on the ease by which buyers could qualify for a mortgage, today’s interest rates can still be locked in for about 3% for the next 5 years, buyers should seriously consider making a purchase while prices are reduced as long as they are financially capable. Toronto’s condo market has a lot of tenacity and the lull may be short-lived. It is possible to see things pick-up dramatically by the spring which means that now is the time to act. If that is true, it will be about 6 months from now before you hear media reports about an increasing sales volume and pricing trend. By then, the best opportunities are going to be long gone.

[email protected]

Michael Camber

Michael Camber is the #1 selling real estate salesperson in King West and Liberty Village. Since 2003 he has been helping his clients achieve all of their real estate objectives.

See Full Bio