Toronto’s In Search Of  A New Normal

We’ve always thought of ourselves as one of the World’s greatest Cities. Toronto has always been great in my mind. I mean, it’s where my immigrant parents settled in the 70’s and created an amazing life for themselves. Fast forward a couple decades and the rest of my family ended up here from Syria as refugees. They all have jobs and some have even created jobs. Lots of them.

So you can see why it’s been so easy for me to always believe that Toronto is the Greatest City In The World. But all that visualization over the years has actually made this a reality. Toronto has never had the attention of World like this before. We are in fact, the talk of the World….and I take full credit for it. Okay well perhaps the popularity of mega stars like Justin Bieber, Drake, The Weekend as ambassadors of Toronto have helped. The booming success of Globally recognized sports franchises like the Raptors and Jays has also helped more people come here and eventually make the decision to move, buy and/or invest here.

Toronto Houses & Apartments are expensive today and they will continue to be expensive in the future. That’s not going to change. 

Basic media will have you believe that there’s crazy shit happening everywhere. Two apartments get their rents jacked up 100% and all of a sudden folks are misled to believe it’s happening everywhere. The term “Over Asking” needs to literally be removed from the mouths of main stream media…well everyone for that matter. The term “sold over asking” is bullshit and does nothing to help anyone understand the state of the market. All it does is get media outlets more “clicks” so they can sell more ads. It’s becoming so easy to dupe the consumer with “hot” soundbites and out of context reports.

Look, only an idiot would tell you that this level of growth is sustainable and it’s always a good time to buy and sell. There are a lot of idiots out there. Careful. I want to make it very clear that this level of growth is NOT sustainable. Some people (mainly flippers and speculators) are in over their heads and when the market calms down, some are going to get hurt, but most (as in almost all) will be just fine.

What’s happening in Toronto is: We’re catching up to the rest of the World. We’re in search of a “New Normal”. This level of property value appreciation is not sustainable. Once the “New Normal” for Toronto is established, things will calm down. Toronto is not positioned for a Crash. Anything any level of government does right now in an attempt to “cool” the market will be utterly useless long term and will only harm average Torontonians in the short-term. Affordability is not a problem that can be solved and the idea that “We need to keep the dream of home ownership alive” as so eloquently quoted by Mayor John Tory the other day is quite literally the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.

We’re catching up to the rest of the World. We’re in search of a “New Normal” – Ara Mamourian (I like quoting myself)

Do you understand what would need to happen to “keep the dream of home ownership alive”? That would mean that property values would need to stay the same (after a 30-40% correction) which would destroy the net worth of millions of Torontonians. It’s ridiculous that an elected official would even spew such insanity that has no solution.

If you want to live in Toronto it’s going to be expensive. You’re going to have to adjust your expectations for the privilege of living in one of the many amazing urban communities Toronto offers from East to West.  This might mean adjusting to condo life as a family if ownership is something you can make happen. It might mean you have room-mates for longer than you expected. It might even mean you get involved in a co-buying situation which is becoming hugely popular. It means YOU are going to have to change because Toronto isn’t going to change for you.

Obviously, my opinions aren’t shared by all and that’s okay. I’m constantly in search of “My Tribe”. Folks that believe what I (we) believe and go forth together.

It means YOU are going to have to change because Toronto isn’t going to change for you. – (quoting myself again)

 

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