The more things change…. | Toronto Sun

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What has remained constant in all the changes? People are always near new homes and condos

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The new home and condominium construction industry has seen an incredible number of changes over the past few years. To accommodate changing buyer preferences, designs evolved into more open-concept layouts.

It also contributed to downsizing to keep price points accessible, as the open concept « lives » larger than the square footage would require. Although rising, interest rates have been historically low, inviting greater demand.

Meanwhile, increased municipal and provincial red tape has played a key role in our lack of housing supply, causing house prices to spike enormously. The pandemic has brought its own set of challenges, which have resulted in new ways of doing business electronically, as well as material shortages and increased demand for work-from-home spaces. But do you know what has remained a constant through it all? People are ALWAYS buying new homes and condominiums.

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Why? On the one hand, family circumstances change. Young people grow up, start a career, get married, have children, etc. Empty nesters move to a more compact environment to make life easier.

We have also seen an exodus of employees to the outskirts of major urban centers where they can work from home in more financially viable residences than in the city.

Then, of course, there is a continuous reshuffling of people moving due to job transfers. Sometimes, legacies allow you to move up in rank. Real estate is a continuous dance that helps keep our economy thriving.

What’s fascinating is that whether property buyers are end users or investors, their purchases are still investments. And what a great investment it is. For example, a condominium in the Greater Toronto Area that sold for $339,978 in April 2012 sold for $789,869 in April of this year. That’s a 132 percent increase. You can see where a condominium can make a great nest egg for retirement or to pass on to future generations.

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Then look at the big picture: real estate is an investment that you can understand much more easily than stocks, mutual bonds or the promising universe of bitcoin. Remember that in Canada we did not experience the collapse that the United States experienced a few years ago.

Our banking and financial systems are fortunately conservative and do not allow people to buy homes that cannot afford them. Even real estate investors who rent out their spaces understand what it means in terms of paperwork, effort, and financial gain. Thus, you can live from your investment, sell it, rent it… the flexibility is attractive.

The bottom line is that in the long term, an investment in real estate remains a wise decision, regardless of market developments. Whatever the future holds, people will always need homes to live in. This is one thing that will never change.

Debbie Cosic is CEO and Founder of In2ition Realty and has been involved in real estate
industry for over 30 years. Visit www.in2ition.ca