Latest news with #homevalues
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
The $1 million price drop - bustling metropolis sees property prices take a huge dip
Home values have dropped by millions of dollars over the last three years in the Greater Toronto Area, a new analysis found. Ten neighborhoods saw the median sale price of a single-family home fall by 40 percent or more since 2022, according to new research by Wahi, a Canadian real estate listing website and app. Houses in Canada reached their peak values in April 2022, after two years of historically low supply and rock-bottom interest rates spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. 'Prices for single-family homes have held up better than condos, but Wahi's latest analysis shows how much market trends can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood,' Wahi CEO Benjy Katchen said in a statement. Four neighborhoods in Brampton, the third largest Toronto suburb, were in the top ten in terms of largest percentage drops in value. They included Huttonville (-53 percent), Vales of Humber (-50 percent), Northwood (-44 percent), and Westgate (-40 percent). These areas are among the hardest hit, but the downward trajectory is widespread, with 289 of the 344 neighborhoods that Wahi analyzed having lower prices this year than in April 2022. Windfields, an upper-middle class area northeast of downtown Toronto, had the biggest home price decline as a raw number. The median sale price of a Windfields home declined by $3.1 million since 2022, when a property cost a whopping $6.3 million. Windfields saw a $1 million bigger drop than Wanless Park, the next biggest loser at a $2.2 million decrease over the same period. Some experts view these price cuts as the market coming back down to earth from an artificial pandemic-era boost caused by quantitative easing. Between 2020 and March 2022, home values across the nation surged by about 65 percent. This didn't last because the Bank of Canada, like the US Federal Reserve and most other central banks around the world, raised interest rates to stifle inflation. Higher interest rates make it harder for home buyers to obtain favorable mortgage terms, while also incentivizing home owners to stay in their current residence. Although Canada has been gradually lowering rates since June of last year, the market is not expected to experience same historic levels of price growth as it did in the pandemic, according to a report from the Bank of Montreal. In March 2025, Bank of Montreal Senior Economist Robert Kavcic said that even though resale prices have found a floor in many markets, it will take years before homes return to their 2022 peak values. Assuming there is a stable economy, steady wage growth and neutral interest rates, the investment bank predicts the market will return to 2022 highs in 2029. A recent report from TD, the second largest consumer bank in Canada, offered a rosier outlook on the housing market going into 2026. 'There's been a cloud of uncertainty that has contributed to the negative buying sentiment that's weighed on the housing market,' TD Economist Rishi Sondhi said. 'TD Economics thinks some of that uncertainty should wane in the back half of this year and dissipate even further into 2026.' Sondhi acknowledged that condos in Toronto have declined and said they will likely continue to do so through to the end of the year. The bank forecasts that condo prices will have dropped by 15 to 20 percent since 2023. The ebb in prices doesn't have to be a bad thing, Sondhi added, saying it could be a signal for a resurgence just around the corner. 'Affordability in the GTA condo space has improved because we have seen declining prices since the third quarter of 2023,' he said. 'So, as prices have come down, affordability has improved, which could help the condo market get off the ground a little bit more in 2026.' All data included in Wahi's analysis is sourced from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board and Information Technology Systems Ontario.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Report: Home values drop by millions in Greater Toronto Area
Home values have dropped by millions of dollars over the last three years in the Greater Toronto Area, a new analysis found. Ten neighborhoods saw the median sale price of a single-family home fall by 40 percent or more since 2022, according to new research by Wahi, a Canadian real estate listing website and app. Houses in Canada reached their peak values in April 2022, after two years of historically low supply and rock-bottom interest rates spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. 'Prices for single-family homes have held up better than condos, but Wahi's latest analysis shows how much market trends can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood,' Wahi CEO Benjy Katchen said in a statement. Four neighborhoods in Brampton, the third largest Toronto suburb, were in the top ten in terms of largest percentage drops in value. They included Huttonville (-53 percent), Vales of Humber (-50 percent), Northwood (-44 percent), and Westgate (-40 percent). These areas are among the hardest hit, but the downward trajectory is widespread, with 289 of the 344 neighborhoods that Wahi analyzed having lower prices this year than in April 2022. Windfields, an upper-middle class area northeast of downtown Toronto, had the biggest home price decline as a raw number. The median sale price of a Windfields home declined by $3.1 million since 2022, when a property cost a whopping $6.3 million. Windfields saw a $1 million bigger drop than Wanless Park, the next biggest loser at a $2.2 million decrease over the same period. Some experts view these price cuts as the market coming back down to earth from an artificial pandemic-era boost caused by quantitative easing. Between 2020 and March 2022, home values across the nation surged by about 65 percent. This didn't last because the Bank of Canada, like the US Federal Reserve and most other central banks around the world, raised interest rates to stifle inflation. Higher interest rates make it harder for home buyers to obtain favorable mortgage terms, while also incentivizing home owners to stay in their current residence. Although Canada has been gradually lowering rates since June of last year, the market is not expected to experience same historic levels of price growth as it did in the pandemic, according to a report from the Bank of Montreal . In March 2025, Bank of Montreal Senior Economist Robert Kavcic said that even though resale prices have found a floor in many markets, it will take years before homes return to their 2022 peak values. Assuming there is a stable economy, steady wage growth and neutral interest rates, the investment bank predicts the market will return to 2022 highs in 2029. A recent report from TD , the second largest consumer bank in Canada, offered a rosier outlook on the housing market going into 2026. 'There's been a cloud of uncertainty that has contributed to the negative buying sentiment that's weighed on the housing market,' TD Economist Rishi Sondhi said. 'TD Economics thinks some of that uncertainty should wane in the back half of this year and dissipate even further into 2026.' Sondhi acknowledged that condos in Toronto have declined and said they will likely continue to do so through to the end of the year. The bank forecasts that condo prices will have dropped by 15 to 20 percent since 2023. The ebb in prices doesn't have to be a bad thing, Sondhi added, saying it could be a signal for a resurgence just around the corner. 'Affordability in the GTA condo space has improved because we have seen declining prices since the third quarter of 2023,' he said.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Locked out of wealth: The racial divide in home equity
As a Bankrate senior writer, I spend a lot of time diving into all things home equity. And lately, there's been a lot to focus on. In the fourth quarter of 2024, homeowner equity averaged an eye-popping $35 trillion, courtesy of a 60 percent increase in home values since 2019, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS). That adds up to approximately $400,000 per homeowner, among the highest equity levels we've ever seen. On the surface, it sounds like a win. But not everyone is experiencing the historic growth in home equity – in particular, homeowners of color. 'Only a small portion of Black adults have any home equity and, among those who do, the equity is generally lower because their homes are valued less,' says Jason Richardson, senior director of research at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). What's more, Black homeowners also have a harder time borrowing against their equity stake, with loan denials double those of white homeowners, Federal Reserve Bank research has found. Why is there a racial divide in accumulating and accessing home equity, and why does it persist? Inequality in accumulating home equity Home equity – your home's worth, minus its outstanding mortgage – is more than just a number on paper. It can be the difference between affording college tuition, making vital renovations, starting a business, or weathering a crisis. But to build equity, you first need to own a home. While 2023 (the latest year data is available) was a banner year for the growth in Hispanic and Black homeownership, a persistent and significant divide still exists between Black and white households and their equity stakes.'There's about a 25-percentage-point gap that has remained unchanged for roughly 120 years,' Richardson says. The disparity starts from day one of homeownership. Larger down payments – the amount paid out-of-pocket for a purchase – boost a buyer's equity stake. In 2023, when the average white homebuyer bought a home worth over $450,000, they gained over $130,000 in equity at closing (reflecting the amount of cash they put up), according to NCRC research. Compare that to about $86,000 for Hispanics and only $69,000 for Blacks. Some Black and Hispanic families struggle to manage even the minimum down payment of 3-3.5 percent. Today's record-high home prices have created 'a substantial growth in the need to access assistance for first-time homebuyers,' says Alexander Hermann, senior research associate at JCHS. However, some first-timers have resources others don't. 'More often than not, white households have access to 'the bank of mom and dad' in the way that Black and Hispanic households don't necessarily have.' Persistent income and wealth gaps Before the pandemic, Black and Hispanic households made meaningful strides when it came to building wealth, recording faster growth than white households. But 'despite those faster gains, Black and Hispanic families started with less,' notes Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of real estate research at the National Association of Realtors. 'It's like two runners in a race. Even if one is running faster, they can still fall further behind if they start further back.' And, in the last few years, they have been. Between 2019 and 2022, while wage and salary income grew significantly for white families, it stayed almost flat for Black and Hispanic ones. By 2022, the typical white household had approximately $285,000 in overall wealth, more than four times that of Hispanic households ($61,600) and more than six times that of Black households ($44,900). This disparity is especially troubling given that it now takes a six-figure salary — nearly $117,000 — to afford a typical single-family home today, 50 percent higher than only five years ago, Bankrate's 2025 Housing Affordability Study has found. Not only are wages stagnant and home prices elevated, but persistently high mortgage rates have priced many Black and Hispanic families out of the market: 'It's clear that few of them can afford to buy a median-priced home,' says Evangelou. And if homeownership is out of reach, so, of course, is the ability to build home equity. Discrimination and loan denials Economic factors aren't the only barriers blocking people of color from building and benefitting from homeownership – bias and prejudice play a part too. Although practices like redlining are now illegal, their impact persists in more subtle, yet still damaging, ways. 'We've done numerous paired tests, where two potential homebuyers are sent to a lender to ask for information,' says Richardson. 'It's very common for the white applicant to be invited into the loan officer's office and given all the information they want. The same lending office will refer a Black or Hispanic borrower to their website. This is an example of the lender discouraging the applicant from even putting in an application.' When applicants of color do apply, they're more likely to be denied, even when they have similar credit scores, income, and are applying for the same type of loan. According to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the reasons lenders give for denials, like employment history or credit history, don't fully account for the racial gap. 'Mortgage denials are just one part of the application process,' says Richardson. 'Loans are either approved, denied, or become what's called 'fallout,' which means the loan doesn't close for some other reason.' Even if they've built a good stake, accessing their hard-earned home equity isn't any easier for some homeowners. Between 2018 and 2021, Black applicants were denied home equity line of credit (HELOC) at a rate of 62 percent, almost double that of white homeowners (32 percent), according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Hispanic homeowners also experienced significantly higher denial rates. In the four-year period, Black and Hispanic homeowners missed out on the ability to cash out a total of more than $4 billion in locked-up equity from HELOCs, home equity loans and cash-out refinances. 'Home equity lending is dominated by banks and credit unions, which tend to be much more conservative lenders anyway,' says Richardson. 'It's not unusual to see home equity loan denial rates over 50 percent.' Home equity lending rates With interest rates currently around 8.25%, home equity loans and HELOCs tend to be far less costly ways to borrow than personal loans or credit cards. Inaccurate home appraisals Accurately valuing your home is a key part of determining how much equity you possess – and how much you can borrow. Unfortunately, there's a racial gap in home appraisals. Recent research from Washington University's Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy has shown that homes in white neighborhoods are appraised at double the value of homes in communities of color, even when the homes are similar and have comparable amenities. 'When homes are systematically undervalued, families have less equity to build wealth, pass to future generations, or leverage for economic opportunities,' says Richardson. 'This creates a cycle where historical discrimination leads to current disparities, which then limit future wealth-building opportunities through homeownership.' Conversely, overvaluations of homes are also a real occurrence in majority-Black neighborhoods, according to a report from the Brookings Institution – which can fuel unrealistic jumps in property prices and lead to a crash later on, potentially putting homeowners into negative equity. All told, '10 percent appraisals in majority-Black neighborhoods are valued on the wrong side of the contract price, compared to what would be expected in the absence of racial bias,' the Brookings study found. The ramifications of the racial home equity divide Here's what makes all these barriers an urgent problem: Home equity is the main source of wealth for a historically unprecedented percentage of Black and Hispanic families. In 1992, only about one-third of these groups' wealth — 38 percent of Black wealth, 33 percent of Hispanic wealth — was concentrated in homeownership. Fast-forward to 2022: Home equity now comprises close to half of the wealth of Hispanic and Black households (45 percent and 44 percent, respectively). Not only is the value of other assets, like retirement accounts or business assets, much lower for Blacks and Hispanics than for whites, but they also have a smaller share of them — or don't have them at all. In contrast, home equity comprised about 19% of white households' net worth in 2022, roughly the same percentage as in 2013, according to the NCRC. Since diversification is important in mitigating risk, having all your nest eggs in one basket could be dangerous. 'Essentially, you have a scenario where many people [of color] are home-rich and asset-poor,' says Dean. 'It means that the next recession or housing crash could be particularly devastating for Black households in terms of wealth, given the dependency on home equity over the last decade.' That's why the ability to tap equity with a home equity loan or a HELOC is crucial, and becomes more so for Black homeowners as they age. 'Without adequate liquid assets or access to equity, older Black homeowners may struggle to cover a lot of expenses,' says Linna Zhu, senior research associate at the Urban Institute. 'Poor condition properties may need a major renovation at some point. The properties may lack accessibility features, especially for disabled households. Being unable to tap home equity reduces their ability to maintain housing stability and further worsens the racial wealth gap later in life.' How do we address the racial divide in home equity? Home equity remains one of the most powerful tools for building financial security, but it only works if everyone has a fair shot. And right now, too many Blacks and Hispanics aren't getting one. Admittedly, 'the current home-buying market isn't doing anyone any favors at all,' as Hermann puts it. But 'unless things improve, there's very little reason to think that you're going to see meaningful progress, either in increased access to homeownership for households of color or continued closing in these substantial and persistent wealth gaps.' So how do we make them improve? If we want home equity to be a true path to financial stability for everyone, we have to address barriers like income inequality, appraisal biases and loan denials that prevent families of color from fully participating in homeownership. That can be done by expanding access to higher-paying jobs, increasing support for down payment assistance and strengthening fair lending enforcement. Boosting financial literacy and education is also crucial as some homeowners may have misconceptions about home equity, not fully understand the equity they've built or how they can access it. A collective $35 trillion in homeowner equity is an amazing amount. But it doesn't mean much if it remains a number on paper for entire communities – or if they're being left out of the equation entirely. Questions, comments or thoughts about this article? Email me your feedback at lbell@ Get more from your home How to put your home equity to use with a flexible HELOC. Explore HELOC offers Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
10 California Cities Where Home Prices Are Surging in 2025
Swaths of California are seeing housing prices drop, thanks largely to the combination of increased inventory and sky-high interest rates. Even markets that are typically somewhat immune to general trends and consistently robust — like Mountain View and San Diego — have softened over the past year. But there are still plenty of places in the Golden State where real estate prices are climbing. Find Out: Read Next: Consider the following 10 cities in California where home prices are surging. Most of these cities are already really expensive for housing, so even a seemingly modest increase in value can add well over $100,000 to a home's price. 10. Pasadena Average home value in June 2025: $1,216,844 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 1.8% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $21,516 Explore More: 9. Bakersfield Average home value in June 2025: $398,238 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 2.0% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $7,809 8. Torrance Average home value in June 2025: $1,184,834 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 2.1% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $24,370 7. Palo Alto Average home value in June 2025: $3,576,394 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 2.2% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $76,987 6. Visalia Average home value in June 2025: $395,417 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 2.3% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $8,890 5. Mission Viejo Average home value in June 2025: $1,212,384 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 2.5% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $29,570 4. Dana Point Average home value in June 2025: $1,690,917 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 3.6% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $58,758 3. Cupertino Average home value in June 2025: $3,083,634 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 3.6% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $111,011 2. Newport Beach Average home value in June 2025: $3,457,389 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 3.6% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $120,141 1. Saratoga Average home value in June 2025: $4,024,743 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 4.4% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $169,625 More From GOBankingRates 9 Downsizing Tips for the Middle Class To Save on Monthly Expenses This article originally appeared on 10 California Cities Where Home Prices Are Surging in 2025 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
10 California Cities Where Home Prices Are Surging in 2025
Swaths of California are seeing housing prices drop, thanks largely to the combination of increased inventory and sky-high interest rates. Even markets that are typically somewhat immune to general trends and consistently robust — like Mountain View and San Diego — have softened over the past year. But there are still plenty of places in the Golden State where real estate prices are climbing. Find Out: Read Next: Consider the following 10 cities in California where home prices are surging. Most of these cities are already really expensive for housing, so even a seemingly modest increase in value can add well over $100,000 to a home's price. 10. Pasadena Average home value in June 2025: $1,216,844 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 1.8% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $21,516 Explore More: 9. Bakersfield Average home value in June 2025: $398,238 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 2.0% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $7,809 8. Torrance Average home value in June 2025: $1,184,834 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 2.1% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $24,370 7. Palo Alto Average home value in June 2025: $3,576,394 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 2.2% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $76,987 6. Visalia Average home value in June 2025: $395,417 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 2.3% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $8,890 5. Mission Viejo Average home value in June 2025: $1,212,384 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 2.5% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $29,570 4. Dana Point Average home value in June 2025: $1,690,917 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 3.6% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $58,758 3. Cupertino Average home value in June 2025: $3,083,634 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 3.6% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $111,011 2. Newport Beach Average home value in June 2025: $3,457,389 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 3.6% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $120,141 1. Saratoga Average home value in June 2025: $4,024,743 Increase in value (percentage) year-over-year: 4.4% Increase in value (dollars) year-over-year: $169,625 More From GOBankingRates 9 Downsizing Tips for the Middle Class To Save on Monthly Expenses This article originally appeared on 10 California Cities Where Home Prices Are Surging in 2025 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
