In Leaside, a house recently sold for $136,000 over the asking price. Offer nights have started to attract multiple bidders again. And now, for the first time since Greater Toronto's housing market ground to a virtual halt last fall, the region recorded more home sales in a two-week period this year than in the same period last year.
It's a short snapshot, but in the first two weeks of May, 4,561 homes sold in the GTA, up 3 per cent from 4,422 in 2008. However, the average sales price for GTA homes was down slightly from the same period last year, as was the average price in the 905.
The picture looked rosier in the city of Toronto, where sales were up 7.5 per cent and the average price of homes increased a touch - half a per cent - to $439,459, up from $437,205 last year.
For people like David Schulze and Kristen Tippin, it spells a looming end to a fabled buyer's market that never quite materialized.
The couple had hoped to be living in their own house by the time they exchange their marriage vows on June 13.
But the few good houses in their sub-$500,000 price range are snapped up too quickly, or go for well over the asking price.
"I think it's been a little bit more competitive than we had hoped," Mr. Schulze said. "[We hit] all the sort of things that we were hoping not to get involved in, with it being a so-called buyer's market."
Their real estate broker, Helga Teitsson, said the turnaround has been swift. The market has not swept back to the headiness of 2007, but it is rallying to a "new normal" where good stock is being snapped up for healthy prices.
"A few months ago, you could take your time, you could negotiate, you could take a week or two to think about it. Right now, if you see a house and you like it, you've got to put in an offer," Ms. Teitsson said.
Low- and mid-range homes are driving the market's rally, real estate agents say. Houses over $1-million remain slower to sell.
But overall confidence is returning, said Andrew Zsolt, president of Coldwell Banker Terrequity Realty, bringing prices up with it. "People waiting for the bottom of the market have missed."
Peripheral industries have seen a rally as well. House stager Anne Bourne said she was busy throughout the downturn, but for different reasons.
During the worst of the slump, desperate home owners and real estate agents called on her to spruce up homes languishing on the market.
Now, people are calling before they list a property in a bid to ensure they snare the listing price. "I think sellers are realizing this is not the time to be testing out a price," she said.
The buyers are there, but only if the property is appealing for the price, she said.
Generally speaking, real estate agents point to the GTA's east for any remaining bargains, but say canny and quick buyers are still finding good deals across the city.
Mr. Schulze and Ms. Tippin are hoping that holds true until they return from their wedding and start searching again.
"Some [sellers] are still hoping they'll get someone to overpay, but I think people aren't willing as much to overpay right now. Maybe that's one thing that's changed, so that's good," Mr. Schulze said.
"We've decided that we're not going to be able to beat the market. We're not going to be able to outsmart it, so we're just going to wait until the time is just right for us and do it then."
