Gas Pump Epiphany: Toronto Real Estate Market Refuses To Stall
May 20th, 2008 Categories: Home Buyers, News Wire, Taxation Nation
According to the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, an epiphany can be “a moment of sudden and great revelation”. I LOVE the word. I love the idea that sudden, profound insight into the essence or meaning of some “something” can be triggered by unremarkable events and experiences. Or everday life, as it’s known.
Really, who hasn’t had one or two epiphanies in the course of a lifetime? These moments of revelation can inspire us to take action immediately (“I Quit!”, “It’s Over!”, “I’m Doing This!”). Or at least to realize, at last, that changes have to be made soonest in some aspect of our lives. Major or minor.
Actually, it’s happening in Toronto right now. If you’d like to witness the epiphany in action, just hang around your local gas station; there’s a whole lot of “great revelation” going on at the gas pumps these days. And who is the beneficiary of the gas pump epiphany? Why, that would be the Toronto 2008 real estate market!
Toronto Real Estate Market
Checks Out Price Of Gas
At around noon today, my local Toronto gas station posted a price of $1.248 CDN per litre, which for my American readers translates to about $4.72 CDN a gallon. I think. Although I write extensively on Toronto real estate market statistics and property taxation, I’m not a mathy person; if you disagree with my calculations, please comment or contact me directly.
So what does the price of gas mean for the Toronto real estate market?
It means that a lot of commuters are taking a hard second look at the amount of money they spend to fill their SUV-sized gas tanks (baby, it’s like a second mortgage!) and realizing it just might be time to take another look at Toronto homes for sale.
It means that although the Toronto real estate market is off last year’s record-setting performance, and uncertainty exists, many potential Toronto home buyers are now thinking they’d rather take their chances with a bit of a bumpy descent into a more balanced housing market than bet there’ll be a drop in the price of gas in the near future (or lifetime). Because we all know that’s one commodity that truly has unlimited potential for price increases.
Toronto Home
Buyers Do The Math
What happens when the bloom is off the rose, so to speak? When the appeal of larger, newer housing is dragged down by the reality of higher gas prices? If you work in Toronto and live elsewhere, you can no longer ignore the significant cost of commuting. And unlike the Toronto municipal land transfer tax, which is offset by the lowest property taxes in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is only paid once per transaction, the cost of gas is offset by … nothing … except a larger house you probably don’t get to spend that much time enjoying.
Sure, a move would mean (much) less house for the money, a house that probably needs some work down the road (heh!), but more money for the other essentials of life such as groceries and cable. And in many cases a much nicer pace of life as time otherwise spent idling on the 401 or 400, draining the gas tank, can be spent with family, friends or just sitting in a chair staring off into space. Hey, don’t knock the chair sitting; when you never have time to do this it’s a treat!
Need some help with your gas pump epiphany? Call Lauren at
416–550–6991 and let me help you find the Toronto home that will change your life!
