Leslieville bungalow sells for $100K over asking amid softening market
Posted January 16, 2013 5:12 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Amid news of a softening Toronto real estate market, a small bungalow in Leslieville has sold in a bidding war for $100,000 over the asking price.
Realtor Scott Hanton listed his clients’ 1,600-square-foot house for $539,000 on Jan. 8 and though they did decide to accept all offers on one day, it didn’t appear to be priced unreasonably low — a tactic often used to trigger a bidding war.
“After weeks and weeks of negative media reports on the state of the real estate market we were cautious about how to price the home and what sort of reaction to expect so early into the new year,” Hanton told CityNews.ca. “We knew we had a beautiful home that was perfectly situated but we had no way of knowing how the market would react.”
The market responded with a bidding war. Almost 300 people filed through the open house on Kerr Road last weekend, and on Tuesday, the owners had eight offers to choose from. They sold for $639,000.
Hanton said though the market may be slowing in some areas, all of the homes he has listed in the area in the $500,000 to $900,000 range have had multiple bids.
“The real estate market is local by nature,” he said.
“It is a big mistake to speak generally about a ‘Canadian Real Estate Market.’ There’s no such thing. The market in Leslieville is very different than the market in High Park or the condo market at Yonge and Bloor or the luxury housing market in Hoggs Hollow. Practically every intersection and every building in the city has its own unique market characteristics.”
Ontario-based housing analyst Ben Rabidoux agrees that single-family homes in the city will hold their value better than, say, homes in the 905 or condos, but he said new government rules should start to deter “dumb bidding wars.”
He said the push for onsite appraisal will prevent lenders from being able to use automated computer systems to inflate home prices, and the Leslieville sale is just the sort of situation the CMHC is interested in.
“I suspect we won’t hear more of these types of things,” Rabidoux said.
