When speaking with buyers, particularly first time buyers with very fixed budgets, I am often asked if they should wait to make a purchase. Again and again I will hear statements like, “this market is overheated”, or “this can’t last forever” or (best of all) “prices HAVE to go down”. I wish this was true, for all the bargain seekers, but all evidence points to the contrary.

With interest rates holding steady until 2017 at minimum (and likely longer), and more active buyers than ever in Toronto, prices will continue to shoot up like Mercury on a hot day. The sales data for the month of July was just released, and it tells a familiar (and troubling) tale. According to the published sales data from TREB (Toronto Real Estate Board), the average selling price as a whole in Toronto was $709,825. This represents a whopping increase of 16.6% from July of 2015. You certainly don’t need an MBA to see where this is going.

The Numbers

What this means is that the potential buyer “waiting out” the market is really just throwing away money each month (and day) they delay. As the numbers above illustrate, the house that cost $608,875 in July of 2015 shot up to $709,825 in July of 2016. That’s a freaking spike in value of $100,000! So right off the hop the “waiting” buyer missed out an increase in equity of $100,000. I dare you to show me any other investment that provides that type of return, or rather show me one that doesn’t involve moving truckloads of drugs across borders.

Worse yet, assume this same buyer is paying a relatively modest $1200 per month in rent. Add this up over a year and you have (or rather don’t have) $14,400 – a disheartening amount of money to pay towards somebody else’s mortgage. Add this $14,400 to the aforementioned $100,000 and that year of sitting on the sidelines ultimately ends up costing $114,400. You could buy a lot of tequila and fish tacos with that chunk of change.

 So if you have the means and desire, get in the game and make a purchase! In the Toronto real estate market good things don’t come to those who wait.