It\u2019s a great time to be young, as long as you don\u2019t need a job or start a family or want to buy a house (or shake hands).<\/p>\n
But buying a home is no easy task in the GTA.<\/p>\n
In fact, a recent survey<\/a> by Abacus Data stated that one-third of non-homeowners in Ontario have given up on ever owning property; another 26 per cent are pessimistic.<\/p>\n So, if millennials and Generation Zers can\u2019t buy, they rent. Right?<\/p>\n However, vacancy rates are trending downward. The new condo market has had to fill in the gaps for thousands of Torontonians and GTAers over the years, leading to a hellish market for renters.<\/p>\n Housing market researchers Urbanation<\/a> found that there have been 50,000 GTA condo leases over the past four quarters\u2014if all of those downtown Torontonians headed for the hills during the COVID-19 pandemic, it looks like they\u2019re on their way back.<\/p>\n Urbanation also reported that 1,242 new purpose-built rentals were completed and began occupancy during this year\u2019s second quarter. The good news is that this is the second-highest quarterly total for new supply additions in more than 30 years.<\/p>\n However, rental demand is fierce (see above), and all of those new rentals are being built in high-rise-focused Toronto.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Ben Myers of Bullpen Research & Consulting Inc. reported that \u201cthe gap between the average rent for a condo apartment in Toronto and the rest of the GTA steadily decreased during 2020.\u201d But that was last year.<\/p>\n Expecting a large rise in activity this fall, Myers added that, \u201cBullpen is forecasting rent growth of 12 per cent to 14 per cent next year when the borders open, tourism ramps up, students return to campus, and many office towers are back to full capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n Lower supply, higher prices\u2014that\u2019s the basic supply and demand principle that we all learned in high school economics.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not the only industry observer beating the supply drum. Urbanation president Shaun Hildebrand<\/a> told a Toronto Storeys reporter: \u201cWhile new construction activity is also on the rise, the level of supply underway is expected to lag behind demand, creating conditions for rents to continue rising towards pre-COVID levels and beyond in the months to come.\u201d<\/p>\n