Has Toronto’s condo market hit its bottom?

After a year of sluggish sales and cancelled projects, the condo market in Canada’s largest city is showing signs of recovery.

Drawn by lower prices, Tyler Florian was able to buy his first property back in February. He purchased a two-bedroom condo in Fort York, a high-density neighbourhood in downtown Toronto.

“My real estate agent was saying it was almost like 2017 prices,” he said.

The 29-year-old financial planner had previously been living with his parents. “The question was: Do I just move downtown and rent because I want to live downtown, or do I stay another year and eventually have, you know, enough savings to buy?”

The First Home Savings Account and the RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan, coupled with lower interest rates, helped Florian acquire his first property.

“It’s good for people looking to get into the market. Of course, we don’t know if it’s the bottom or not, but it seems like it’s a good time,” he said.

Realtor Thomas Delespierre says Toronto’s condo segment has shifted from a seller’s market — where units would sell in less than two weeks — to a buyer’s market, where condos can sit on the market for four to six months.

“Buyers have a lot more choices, they can negotiate more,” he said. “It’s much harder for sellers.”

Sellers hoping for a rebound

New data released by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) suggests the slump in the condo market may be coming to an end.

Last month, 1,054 units were sold in the city, a 14.4 per cent increase year-over-year. Condo prices, however, continued to shrink. They fell by 6.4 per cent over the same period — averaging just over $665,000.

TRREB’s chief information officer Jason Mercer says lower prices and borrowing costs helped boost activity in that housing segment. “We’ve been seeing a little bit of momentum, some people who had been on the sidelines waiting for affordability to improve [before] moving back into the marketplace,” he said.

However, stiffer competition between buyers could push condo prices back up again, Mercer says, especially with far fewer new units being built.

This trend isn’t unique to Toronto. Nearly all surrounding suburbs and municipalities in Ontario’s southwest also saw declines in prices and sales.

After buying her dream home, Barb Guglielmi and her husband wanted to sell their condo in Barrie, north of Toronto, to free up funds.

“We had it on the market for about six months,” she said.

After reducing the asking price, Guglielmi says they still did not get any offers. Similar units in her area were selling in the low $600,000s — significantly less than she purchased hers for. “We…