Nicholas Kyriacopoulos founded a group holding and finance company in 2012 with the
vision of building townhouses in underserved markets. Since that time he has developed
over 400 homes and units in Ontario, along with almost a decade of experience in the
Toronto real estate market.
It’s an interesting time in the Toronto real estate market at the moment, and the question on everyone’s lips is if and when Toronto’s sky-high housing prices are going to crash. These are the factors that experienced Toronto real estate investors like Nicholas Kyriacopoulos are paying attention to:
Toronto Condo Market
Last year everyone was predicting that the Toronto condo market bubble would burst, but
that doesn’t seem to be the case. Sure, a lot of condos hit the market last year as tourism
and business travel to the city ground to a halt, but these are temporary conditions. The core of Toronto will always be packed, and condos can expect to see another price surge when competition in this area comes back. Now is a great time to buy a condo if you are prepared to weather the storm until its value goes back, but you can still expect a long vacancy period that you will need to account for in your finances.
The fear of a suite sitting empty might have you rethinking this, and if you can’t take the
financial strain then this option may not be for you. Securing a tenant at a lower rent might
be a stopgap solution, but that could make it more difficult to get your originally predicted
returns later on.
Assignment Sales
With a number of preconstruction home assignments hitting the market, now is the time to
buy. There will be some great opportunities to buy new-build condos under market value.
These kinds of deals may not be advertised to the general public, in fact, they generally
aren’t. If this sounds like your style of the entry point to the market, you will likely need to
work with a real estate broker to make the connections and get you access to these
opportunities.
Detached & Semi-Detached Homes
Pricing in this sector shot up in 2020 as a result of a combination of a rushed, panicked
market and genuine demand for semis and detached homes. Going forward, this sector of
the housing market should be more stable.
After the ‘hurry up and buy’ mentality of many homebuyers last year, this year many buyers will not be feeling the pressure as much and may be too fatigued from all of the changes and important decisions of recent times to want to rush another major decision.
As a result, Nicholas Kyriacopoulos expects this sector to behave in a more typical fashion,
recommending that sellers be ready to sell early after the spring thaw as usual.
Toronto Pre-Construction Condos
Pre-construction condo purchases are only going up, both inside and outside of the central
and downtown areas.
Nicholas Kyriacopoulos expects to see a wide variety of condo options and in particular
more two- and three-bedroom layouts with outdoor space, built to appeal to the family
market.
Pre-construction has always provided a good entry point to the real estate market and that is not going to change any time soon. First-time investors will have more options than ever,
and these options will be more widely distributed into new suburban developments and
growing communities.
It will be critical in the year to come for both buyers and sellers to pay attention to what’s
really happening in the market, as there are sure to be unexpected opportunities as a result of the current uncertainty.