Toronto condo dwellers flock to exurbs, creating domino effect across Southern Ontario real estate
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A home has to be an office, maybe two offices, a classroom, a gym — much more than they were before
Conrad Zurini, broker
“This is what’s happening: People are looking for more space,” he said. “A home has to be an office, maybe two offices, a classroom, a gym. These homes have become much more than they were before.”
Zurini said millennials make up the majority of those leaving Toronto for Hamilton. There, the average house price sat at $662,257 as of the end of the August, according to the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington. The additional interest from Toronto has turned it into one of the hottest markets in Ontario.
Danielle Grant, a sales representative for Hamilton-based Ambitious Realty Advisors describes an environment where buyers must be willing to bid between $50,000 to $100,000 above asking prices and forgo inspections to have a shot at landing a house.
On Monday, Grant said she was competing on behalf of a client for a house in the Hamilton Mountain region listed for $399,000 and there were 22 offers placed on it. But it’s the houses with fewer offers that are still selling for inflated prices that better describe the market. Recently, Grant and a client bid on a house that was listed at $625,000 — and despite only accumulating four offers, it sold for $761,000.
“It’s incredible — $136,000 over asking price with only four offers is unheard of,” Grant said. “It used to be that each offer would go up by an increment of $5,000 and in my head, if there’s 20 offers, it’ll go $100,000 over asking price. I’ve never seen this with four offers.”
