Category: Blog

June 8, 2020

Good news, especially for faith communities, amid coronavirus pandemic, Ontario is reopening the places of worship from Friday, June 12, 2020, across the province, with social distancing in place and not more than 30% of capacity.

All other facilities in Toronto city and most of the areas surrounding GTA and GTAH would still have to wait until June 19th, or until according to the news.

The Globe and Mail writes businesses and services permitted to reopen with proper health and safety measures in place in regions entering Stage 2 include:

• Outdoor dine-in services at restaurants, bars and other establishments, including patios, curbside, parking lots and adjacent properties;
• Select personal and personal care services with the proper health and safety measures in place, including tattoo parlours, barber shops, hair salons and beauty salons;
• Shopping malls under existing restrictions, including food services reopening for take-out and outdoor dining only
• Tour and guide services, such as bike and walking, bus and boat tours, as well as tasting and tours for wineries, breweries and distilleries;
• Water recreational facilities such as outdoor splash pads and wading pools, and all swimming pools;
• Beach access and additional camping at Ontario Parks;
• Camping at private campgrounds;
• Outdoor-only recreational facilities and training for outdoor team sports, with limits to enable physical distancing;
• Drive-in and drive-through venues for theatres, concerts, animal attractions and cultural appreciation, such as art installations;
• Film and television production activities, with limits to enable physical distancing
• Weddings and funerals, with limits on social gatherings to 10 people.

Take care of yourselves and follow the safety precautions defined by healthcare professionals.

Please pray for the safety of all and the cure for COVID-19 to be found at the earliest.

#BeSafeAndHelpOthersBeSafe

A. Q. Mufti

Follow the link for full report:

July 9, 2020

A lot many people were skeptical about home prices during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

I have been consistently saying, contrary to what self-claimed experts were trying to create a gloomy picture of the market, the market would not crash instead it will be on wheels sooner than later.

With the latest numbers out from Toronto Real Estate Board, the average home selling price last month (June 2020) rose almost 12% up.

While the seasonally adjusted home sales in June 2020 compared to Jun 2019 were down by a meagre 1.4%, considering the effects of COVID-19, but it went up by a staggering 84%.

Analyzing the TRREB report shows an upward trend in the coming months, thanks to historically low BOC interest rates.

Adding to the confidence level of the public in getting into the real estate market is the federal government’s generous COVID-19 package to help individuals and businesses cope with challenging times.

Take care of yourselves and follow the safety precautions defined by healthcare professionals.

Please pray for the safety of all and the cure for COVID-19 to be found at the earliest.

#BeSafeAndHelpOthersBeSafe

A. Q. Mufti

Follow the link for full report:

http://trreb.ca/files/market-stats/market-watch/mw2006.pdf

As promised in my last blog, here is my analysis of the latest Real Estate market report, issued by TRREB, for the month of August 2022.

Residential Sales Market:

According to the Toronto Region Real Estate Board (TRREB), total sales and purchase transactions continued their downward trend when compared with the same month in the last year (August 2021) but it saw an uptick of more than 11% since the previous month (July 2022).

Here is the interesting news, the Average Selling Price graph has changed the course in the upward direction for the first time after the prices started to tank since around the month of May 2022. It is interesting that this upward trend is found in both periods, i.e., year over year as well as seasonally adjusted. Almost a 1% increase is seen when compared with the same month last year (August 2021) and over a 2% increase since last month (July 2022).

This information is critical in understanding the future trend of the Real Estate market. I will explain it in more depth towards the end, let us first analyze the full report.

Year over year (August 2021 compared with 2022) there were less than 0.7% fewer homes that came to the market. Similarly, a 28% decrease in the ratio between new listings and sales was seen. This resulted in a very significant increase in the number of listings remaining in the market, a whopping 62%, 34 days compared to the 21 days it took to sell a home last year in August. This trend is also visible, with a 37.5% increase, when compared with the last month, July 2022, to August 2022 taking 22 days in August to 16 days in July 2022 to sell a home.

Condominium Sales Market:

Although year over year sales (Q1/2021-Q1/2022) of Condos sales were dropped by 15.6% the Average Selling Price of Condos has shown a giant leap of 22.4% increase.

The total number of condos entering the market also saw a slight increase of .3%, year over year, while there were 14% fewer sales for the new entrants. A big surprise though, it took almost half the number of days to sell a condo, 12 days in July 2022 compared with 23 days in July 2021. It shows the Buyers’ confidence in taking the advantage of the low prices.

Condominium Rental Market:

10,110 condo apartments were rented compared to 12,162, a decrease of over 235 when compared to the same period last year (Q1/2021 – Q1/2022).

The Average one-bedroom apartment rent went up to $2,145 compared to $1,820, an 18% increase, in the same period.

Total new rental units entering the market were cut in half with 16,475 units in Q1/2022 compared with 28,703 units in Q1/2021.

Commercial Market:

Commercial sales were down by almost 22% in Q1/2022 compared with Q1/2021 with 307 and 392 sales recorded respectively.

Year over year, first quarter leasing activity also saw a slowdown with about 6.5M and 8.7M units leased during Q1/2022 and Q1/2021 respectively.

The average lease rate for both Industrial and Commercial/Retail units saw increases of 28.6% and 14.4% respectively. The average office unit leasing rate declined by 2%.

Coming back to the question of what is in the folds for the near future of the Real Estate market?

As no one can predict the future, but it is always not easy to predict the market when there are many variables at work. On one side we have the challenge of record levels of inflation while on the other hand mortgage rates are on the rise, due to BOC’s corrective actions to bring the inflation under control.

The speech on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, by the Governor of the Bank of Canada would be critical to set the market sentiments for the future, especially in the Real Estate market. As some economists believe that Wednesday’s increase could be the last in addition to reversal of the August’s downward trend of housing prices can lead us to think that we may have seen the bottom of the house pricing in this period and it could be the beginning of the return to an upward trend. But I hope it does not lead to multiple offers and price wars as seen recently.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your unique needs and goals, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 416-908-5600. I’m here to help you find the perfect, tailor-made solution.

If you found this review helpful, I would greatly appreciate it if you could kindly leave a Google Review for my real estate services at

A. Q. Mufti Google Review

Thank you for your continued support!

A. Q. Mufti

Your Trusted Realtor in Mississauga, Oakville, Milton and beyond.

July 30, 2020

Due to COVID-19 pandemic retail sales have plunged but online sales have doubled, according to a recent report published by CBC.

With the increase in online shopping, many think about the risks of online fraud.

I have summarized the main points from an article from Equifax, a credit monitoring service provider, below to help you safeguard your online purchasing.

1. Be careful where you shop. 
2. Think before you click. 
3. Don’t trust pop-up ads. 
4. Check the retailer’s online reviews.
5. Don’t share unnecessary personal data.
6. Use credit cards instead of debit cards. 
7. Don’t save your payment information. 
8. Update your antivirus software before you shop. 
9. Check your network. 
10. Avoid using the same password across shopping websites.

Here is the article to read details about the above points:

Take care of yourselves and follow the safety precautions defined by healthcare professionals.

Please pray for the safety of all and the cure for COVID-19 to be found at the earliest.

#BeSafeAndHelpOthersBeSafe

A. Q. Mufti

Bank of Canada’s aggressive stance to control inflation has not changed the course with its, most anticipated, announcement on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, of a .75% increase in the overnight lending rate, bringing it to 3.25%, the fifth increase this year. The BOC started with a .25 percent rate at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The experts expect that we may see one or even two increases of .50 by the end of the year.

The statement released by the bank shows a continuation of this mood until it gets the inflation to an acceptable rate of 2%.

Major banks have or will follow suit to increase their prime rates. What it means for the homeowners is that they will see the overall increase in their mortgage payback period that is it would take many more years to pay back their mortgage, if the bank does not change their monthly payment. Or, they will have to budget for several hundreds of dollars increase in their monthly mortgage payments, should their bank adjust their rate as a result of the BOC’s rate increase. The first case is worrisome but the second is even more serious as many families who have stretched to their limits, will have a hard time coming up with the increase.

Despite the higher inflation, we have seen the economy booming and the unemployment rate at its bottom in recent days.

With BOC’s aggressive approach having one-point agenda to control inflation may lead Canada into recession, as many experts are raising their concerns. Some have forecasted that we may lose close to a million jobs, should we enter into a recession.

Commenting on this aggressive approach, many economists are raising their concerns about slowing down the economy and increasing the unemployment rate. They also note that the true impact of the already raised rates has not been seen as it would be more clearly visible at the time of renewing the mortgages for the homeowners.

My opinion is that all our policies, including fiscal policies, should always be human-focused. After all the policymakers are here not only to crunch the numbers but make their decisions on how to make an average person’s life more comfortable. Having said that, I would take a hybrid approach and try to find an increase in supply in addition to traditional measures of rate hikes but don’t go only on increasing the rates regardless of what happens to a common person.

Despite increased prices, having people on jobs and bringing food on the table for the family is much better than people losing jobs, declaring bankruptcies, and looking for food banks to support their families.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your unique needs and goals, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 416-908-5600. I’m here to help you find the perfect, tailor-made solution.

If you found this review helpful, I would greatly appreciate it if you could kindly leave a Google Review for my real estate services at

A. Q. Mufti Google Review

Thank you for your continued support!

A. Q. Mufti

Your Trusted Realtor in Mississauga, Oakville, Milton and beyond.

Aug 7, 2020

July sales figures are out by TRREB (Toronto Region Real Estate Board).

The report shows a continuing upward trend in sales as well as the average selling price.

Sales went up a whopping 49.5% compared to the last month of June while it went up by 29.5% compared to the same month last year.

The average sales price recorded a distinct 17% increase while it went up by 5.5% comparing to last month this year.

While the new listings for sale were up by almost 25% comparing with July last year but so was the sales of the properties by 3% creating a bigger gap between the properties available for sale and the buyers in the market further supporting the upward trend of the home prices.

Since there was a lesser supply of houses in the market, the properties were selling faster and remained over 24% fewer days in the market compared to July last year but days on the market were further squeezed if we compare it with the last month of June 2020.

Overall, the Condo prices and sales also went up, but the major push was due to the non-Highrise property market.

Contrary to the general impression that due to COVID-19 the home sales would be down and eventually the prices would see some pruning during this period, what we are seeing is multiple offers and properties selling over asking prices, and the trend is continuing upward without looking back.

Take care of yourselves and follow the safety precautions defined by healthcare professionals.

Please pray for the safety of all and the cure for COVID-19 to be found at the earliest.

#BeSafeAndHelpOthersBeSafe

A. Q. Mufti

When I wrote the blog on Toronto city’s offering of interest-free loans, I received several messages inquiring if similar loans are available in other cities.

Today I am glad to bring you the good news you were waiting for, the Federal government is offering up to $40K in interest-free loans payable in 10 years through the program called Canada Greener Homes Loan.

More good news, in addition to interest-free loans, the government is also offering Grants (not to be paid back) of up to $5K for eligible retrofits. For example, these qualified retrofits include attic insulation, walls, exposed floors, basement, windows and doors, thermostats, water heating, solar panels, etc.

To be eligible for the interest-free loan, there are certain requirements, including, as described by the Government of Canada:

You must apply and be eligible for the Canada Greener Homes Grant or provincial program for Nova Scotia and Quebec

• You must be a Canadian homeowner and your home must be your primary residence
• You have completed pre-retrofit evaluation of your home dated April 01, 2020 or later
• You have a good credit history and aren’t under:
  • a consumer proposal
  • an orderly payment of debt program
  • a bankruptcy or equivalent insolvency proceeding
• You will be asked to share financial information to demonstrate that you have the financial capacity to repay the loan.

You can find more details here: https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/homes/canada-greener-homes-grant/canada-greener-homes-loan/24286

For details of Eligible retrofits and grant amounts, please check here: https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/homes/canada-greener-homes-grant/start-your-energy-efficient-retrofits/plan-document-and-complete-your-home-retrofits/eligible-grants-for-my-home-retrofit/23504

There is always a better solution a professional can provide, sometimes beyond one’s thoughts.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your unique needs and goals, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 416-908-5600. I’m here to help you find the perfect, tailor-made solution.

If you found this review helpful, I would greatly appreciate it if you could kindly leave a Google Review for my real estate services at

A. Q. Mufti Google Review

Thank you for your continued support!

A. Q. Mufti

Your Trusted Realtor in Mississauga, Oakville, Milton and beyond.

Sep 4, 2020

Monthly sales figures for the month of August 2020 are released by TRREB (Toronto Region Real Estate Board).

The month of August has shown another steep upward trend both in home sales and prices.

August Sales went up a whopping 40.3% compared with the same month a year ago in August 2019. It went further up by 10.5% from last month, July 2020, which had already seen a surge in home sales by 29.5% compared to the month of June 2020.

The month’s year over year Average Sales Price beat the previous month’s, that was 17%, to over 20% increase.

It seems that both Buyers and Sellers are having more confidence as compared to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 as there are almost 57% more new listings added to the inventory list, compared to the same month last year.

With this confidence, both Buyers and Sellers are rushing in the market making the gap left due to COVID-19 early days.

Multiple offers and over asking have almost become the norm in many areas in the GTA and around.

A quote from a previous blog that stands true to the moment “Contrary to the general impression that due to COVID-19 the home sales would be down and eventually the prices would see some pruning during this period, what we are seeing is multiple offers and properties selling over asking prices, and the trend is continuing upward without looking back.”

Please see the attachment to see the infographic from TRREB.

Take care of yourselves and follow the safety precautions defined by healthcare professionals.

Please pray for the safety of all and the cure for COVID-19 to be found at the earliest.

#BeSafeAndHelpOthersBeSafe

Oct 31, 2020

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the immigration process has slowed, if not to a grinding halt. Canada cannot survive without the induction of new immigrants, population replacement wise as well as to run her economy we need new immigrants.

Canada’s immigration history is as old as her age.

According to Stats Canada “since Confederation in 1867, more than 17 million immigrants have come to Canada”.

Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino announced on Friday, October 30, 2020, that Canada will welcome 1.2 million immigrants in the next three years and an annual target set for immigration would reach over 400 million.

It may surprise many but the year 1913 has already set the record for the highest number of immigrants coming to Canada in a year when more than 400 million immigrants arrived in that year.

The steady higher number of immigrants started since the early 1990s and continue to date having about 235K new immigrants making Canada their new homeland.

With the desperate need for new immigrants and the government’s plan to take in almost half a million immigrants in a year, we have to consider the impact on the country’s landscape, demography, and economy.

Historically, most new immigrants, almost 70%, settle in and around GTA, Montreal, BC, Alberta, and other major economic hubs. It is also interesting that many of the immigrants tend to move in and around GTA from other places over time.

These immigrants go through a rigorous vetting process and they bring in a wealth of highly educated and trained individuals along with their families and plenty of wealth.

They induce their lifetime savings in the economic engine of the country.

These immigrants need homes to settle themselves and their families. As a result, they create more demands for housing resulting in thousands of direct and ancillary jobs connected with the housing industry.

While running the economic gears of the country, it results in a demand and supply situation in the housing.

With almost half a million new immigrants target we can imagine a rapid increase in the housing prices, prices that have already seen double-digit increase despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, anyone who is undecided for many years and still waiting for the prices to touch the bottom may have already bypassed without noticing it.

I will be happy to discuss it further with you one-on-one and can be reached at 416-908-5600.

Take care of yourselves and follow the safety precautions defined by healthcare professionals.

Please pray for the safety of all and the cure for COVID-19 to be found at the earliest.

A. Q. Mufti