The Weekly 411:

Today we're covering

🤠 Calgary Townhomes are Heating up

🏢 Toronto Office Vacancy Soars to 14.3%

🏠 Toronto Inventory Rises as Sales Dip

📉 The GTA Condo Market is in Freefall 

🔥Edmonton Market Update (It's Hot)

Read Time: 3 minutes

🤠 Calgary Townhomes are Heating up

• Calgary has the hottest market for townhome price growth in Canada (19% to nearly $475,000).

• Townhome sales have been strong in Calgary, growing 13% year-over-year. 

• The share of townhome resales in Calgary has grown from 12% to 17% in the past five years. 

• Demand for townhomes is expected to rise if interest rates decrease (although prices would likely rise too). 

• Single-family detached homes are becoming a less dominant market share (down to 44% from 60% in five years).

🏢 Office Toronto Office Vacancy Soars to 14.3%

• The availability rate (including sublease space) increased by 19.1% in Q1 2024.

• However, the amount of sublease space specifically declined by 311,000 square feet.

• Suburban vacancy rates currently sit at 12.8%, lower than downtown's 14.3%.

Why It Matters: Downtown Toronto's office market is struggling to adapt to the changing work landscape. Rising vacancy rates and a shrinking sublease market suggest an oversupply of office space in the core.

🏠 Toronto Inventory Rises as Sales Dip

• New listings are up 47% year-over-year.

• Unit sales are down 5% year-over-year. 

• The average home price is down 15% from its peak but still expensive due to rising interest rates.

• Condo sales are down 6.5%, indicating fewer first-time homebuyers. 

• Detached home sales are down 7% as potential buyers wait for rate cuts.

📉 The GTA Condo Market is in Freefall

• Sales of new condos in the GTHA hit late-1990s lows in Q1 2024, dropping 85% from the 2022 peak and 71% from the 10-year average.

• New condo construction starts fell 52% from last year

• Unsold units represent 22.8 months of supply, with Toronto's unsold inventory particularly high (30.6 months).

• Average new condo prices fell 12% from late 2023, and 17% from last year, now at $1,168 per square foot.

Why It Matters: Although condos are currently undersold, the sharp drop in sales and construction starts points to a potential condo supply shortage in the next 5-10 years. High costs make aligning pricing with market demand difficult, especially for downtown Toronto projects.

🔥 Edmonton Market Update (It's Hot)

• The home prices in the Edmonton area reached an all-time high of $431,387 for April 2024, a 5.6% increase from last year

• Detached home average prices increased 5.9% year-over-year and 2.5% month-over-month 

• Semi-detached home average prices increased 7.4% year-over-year while they declined 0.5% month-over-month

• Townhouse average prices increased 13% year-over-year and 4.2% month-over-month

• Apartment average prices increased by 4.4% year-over-year to $200,968. Apartment prices are 3.5% higher than last month.

🖼 Image of The Week

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... So, every week, we share one image that describes how we feel about the news that week.