Toronto market stabilises with sales up 17 per cent

A round-up of world property news

one year ago

*The Toronto market is more buoyant after a slowdown last year*

Home sales leap by a sixth in Toronto

The number of homes sold in Toronto has risen almost 17 per cent in a year. There were 9,042 sales in the Greater Toronto area in April, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board, up 16.8 per cent on the same month last year, when a new mortgage stress test led to weaker sales. The Globe and Mail reported that the average sale price is now C$820,148 ($610,000).

Purplebricks to pull out of Australia

The online estate agent Purplebricks will quit the Australia market because of “increasingly challenging” conditions and that prospective returns are “not sufficient to justify continued investment”. The FT reported that the company will also scale back its presence in the US. The estate agent has also announced that Michael Bruce, who founded the group in 2012, is stepping down as chief executive with immediate effect. He will be replaced by chief operating officer Vic Darvey.

*Purplebricks is quitting Australia and scaling back in the US*

First dip in Spanish asking prices for two years

The average asking price for existing homes in Spain fell in April for the first time in 27 months. Bloomberg reported research by real estate website Fotocasa that found the month-on-month drop of 0.5 per cent reduced the annual price rise to 7.1 per cent.

*Barcelona, Spain: asking prices nationally have been falling*

Online model aims to shake up Brazil market

Brazilian online real estate services company Grupo Zap is to introduce the instant homebuyer (i-buyer) model in its home country. Under the model, online businesses buy homes, renovate them and put them back on the market. Forbes reported Zap’s data suggest transactions have shrunk 30-40 per cent since 2014, with properties taking an average of 468 days to sell. The company is aiming to shake up the Brazilian market, says Forbes, and will invest $25m in property over the coming year.

*Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: transactions in the country have shrunk over the past five years*

Viral dance video swings it for Sydney buyer

An estate agent’s unusual promotion of a Sydney house via an interpretative dance video has paid off, with the property selling for $1.72m before it went up for auction. The Guardian reported that the buyer saw the four-bedroom house in Padstow on social media after LJ Hooker Bankstown’s video went viral, and that his offer was higher than the vendors had expected.