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Jeff Steinman doesn’t know what else he can do to try and sell his condo after lowering the price by almost $135,000.
“Interest in the unit has been very low,” Steinman said. “I’ve had zero offers and it’s been on the market since the summer.”
In July, the Star spoke to Steinman about the difficulties he faced selling his downtown Toronto condo, highly unusual for a one-bedroom apartment on Charlotte Street, close to Spadina Avenue and Adelaide Street West, in a 13-storey boutique building close to theatres, TIFF Bell Lightbox, sports stadiums, and multiple transit lines.
Steinman’s story speaks to the ailing condo market, which has been flooded with listings while demand from buyers for one-bedroom or studio apartments has disappeared. Sales have picked up in the condo sector over the fall, but it’s still struggling to regain its footing after a sluggish year. The Star checked in with Steinman in the last month to see how the sales process was going, and whether there’d been any interest in his apartment since the summer.
In August 2021, Steinman bought the one-bedroom condo for $652,000 — he is now listing the unit for $555,000, the absolute rock bottom he says he can list it for — buyers don’t want to sell their property at a loss, as they’re still on the hook by the lender to recoup the costs. Steinman’s property is 680 square feet with an open-concept living room and kitchen area, sizable balcony and spacious bedroom and bathroom off to the side of the foyer.
Able to work remotely, he would often rent out his unit on Airbnb while travelling to the U.S. to be close to his children. But in December 2023, he lost his job in the tech industry and several months later his condo board declared short-term rentals would no longer be allowed in the building. With no revenue stream to help cover his mortgage, Steinman decided it would be best to sell this past summer, and the need to off-load the property has only increased as the months dragged on.
Since speaking with the Star, Steinman has dropped the price several times. In July, when the Star first spoke to him, he’d already dropped the price to $639,900 from his highest listing price of $689,900. He’s since lowered it by another $85,000 over the last five months.
“It’s very stressful, very frustrating, and I’ve become unhopeful in the process,” he said. “I’m not as angry as I was, I’ve come to expect that it’s just a bad market right now and it doesn’t feel like people are interested in buying.”
Steinman said realtors have messaged him asking if they can help sell his unit (he currently doesn’t have a realtor as he can’t afford the commission especially if he sells at a massive loss) and “all of them have told me it’s a tough market.”
Bigger units, especially those with two or three bedrooms are still competitive for buyers. But the smaller units, designed for investors to rent out, are a tougher sell for end-users who want more space when dishing out more than half a million dollars for a unit, said Tom Storey, sales representative with Royal LePage Signature Realty.
“Prices need to go down more for people to be interested in buying those one-bedrooms or studios,” Storey said.
It doesn’t take much for prices to drop overall, Storey said; just a minority of sellers on the fringe of the market who drop their prices significantly if they’re highly motivated, which would lead the rest of the market to follow suit. Right now, prices are down 2.5 per cent year over year, not enough to make a significant impact on pricing overall for the condo sector.
Homeowners who bought in 2021 and 2022 when interest rates hit rock bottom but prices were at their peak are in a financially precarious place if they’re choosing to sell now. Not only do they likely have a bigger mortgage to pay with higher interest rates, but they’re likely having to sell at a loss, said Graeme Hamilton, a Toronto-based insolvency trustee with Spergel.
These homeowners will be on the hook to pay their lender the full amount owed of the remaining mortgage, plus any break penalty when the sale closes as well as real estate commissions and lawyer’s fees. If there’s any shortfall, they have to make up the difference.
If they’re unable to make up for the shortfall, they could declare bankruptcy, said Hamilton.
In a dire situation, where the homeowner has defaulted on their mortgage payments, the lender takes over the sale of the property to try and recoup any costs. If the home sells for less than what the homeowner bought it for, they often have to declare bankruptcy as their main asset — the home — is no longer theirs to liquidate.
While it’s yet to be seen if financial stress for homeowners will begin a price crash in the condo market — defined by some experts as plummeting prices of 30 to 40 per cent — there are individuals who are hurting, experts say. Royal LePage forecasts that while prices of single-family detached homes will see a seven per cent increase in 2025, condo prices will dip by one per cent as the glut of inventory will struggle to find buyers in the next year.
After eight months on the market, and multiple price drops, Steinman doesn’t have many choices left.
He’s included the furnishings of his unit in the sales price such as a television, modern computer monitor and high-end desk chair.
“I’ve got up to $10,000 of furnishing in there,” he said.
“I’m not trying to make money off this property, I’m just trying to sell it at market value. I had planned for it to be my retirement nest egg, but that’s just gone.”
