Today’s guest, making appearance number three, is Shaun Hildebrand. He is the President of Urbanation, a small research and consulting firm based in Toronto. They focus on the GTA condominium and rental apartment market, providing subscribers with access to their well researched database.
The episode begins with a strong focus on condos, as Shaun provides an overview of how strong the market was before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He shares his thoughts on what the condo market will look like over the next few years and different factors that influence this asset class. The discussion ends with a look at the data for the apartment sector.
Topics covered include:
- A brief history and explanation of Urbanation.
- The strong first quarter of 2020 for condominium sales.
- How much of an impact COVID-19 has had on prices and the selling of units.
- Spring projects being delayed until later in the year.
- The sales-to-new-listing ratio and why it’s important.
- Some buyers seeing the pandemic as their chance to get into the market.
- Why Shaun thinks the market was overpriced in Q1 2020.
- A positive impact of COVID-19 on the real estate market.
- Differences between the 416 and 905 condo markets.
- Buyer preferences toward unit sizes.
- What the condo supply looks like in the coming years.
- The segment of the condo rental market that has declined the most.
- Incentives offered by landlords in Toronto.
- Why rental rates might be mismanaged.
- The current state of the purpose-built market and the effects of coronavirus.
- Developers looking to reposition their shopping centres with residential.
- Rent levels beginning to finally make sense in certain areas.
More about our guest….
Shaun leads the team at Urbanation, setting the research agenda and guiding the analytics that form the company’s market insights. He has acted as a key spokesperson for the industry for several years, providing regular commentary to the media, delivering presentations at numerous events and preparing research and forecast reports to a wide variety of stakeholders. Shaun has a Master’s Degree in Economics from Carleton University, and prior to joining Urbanation he managed the GTA housing market analysis team for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
Shaun Hildebrand’s first appearance on the podcast
Shaun Hildebrand’s second appearance on the podcast.
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