The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area new condominium market saw just 502 sales in the last quarter, prompting one real estate analysis firm to speak out about what it says is a “downturn that is really starting to wreak havoc.”

The number was included in Urbanation’s latest report, released Tuesday.

The firm said that the 502 new condominium units that changed hands in the second quarter marks a decline of 69 per cent compared to the same time period last year and represents a 91 per cent drop compared to the 10-year average.

“The market has entered a phase of the downturn that is really starting to wreak havoc. Project cancellations are mounting, construction starts are collapsing, jobs are being lost, buyers are losing a lot of money, and developers are facing difficulties with closings,” Urbanation President Shaun Hildebrand said in an analysis accompanying the data.

The federal government is providing a $650-million loan to support the construction of 1,285 new rental units in Scarborough, officials said Tuesday.

The units will be located in three residential towers built on the west side of the Scarborough Town Centre shopping mall, according to a news release Tuesday by Oxford Properties, the real estate developer that is building the property. 

268 units, or about 21 per cent, will be designated as affordable housing.

In 2018, the City of Toronto amended zoning bylaw to allow laneway suites on residential properties in the Toronto and East York District, expanding the permissions citywide by 2020 and with the addition of garden suites in 2022. The amendment was intended to increase the number of housing options and infill opportunities in the city, ultimately helping to improve affordability for Torontonians.

Now, the City is implementing additional measures to cut down approval timelines and make the construction of garden and laneway suites more accessible, including releasing free blueprints, expanding online services for building permit submissions, and including garden and laneway suites in the existing Reliance on Professional Engineer’s Seal program.

Canadian rents continued to slide in June, with the most pronounced declines reported in BC and Alberta and in Canada’s largest cities. Driving the decline is a combination of low immigration and over supply leading to higher vacancy rates and longer vacancy terms, under which landlords are beginning to cave.

“Rent decreases at the national level have been mild so far, with the biggest declines mainly seen in the largest and most expensive cities,” said Shaun Hildebrand, President of Urbanation. “However, it appears that the softening in rents has begun to spread throughout most parts of the country.”

At the national level, rents fell 2.7% year over year to $2,125 in June, according to the latest rent report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation. June marked the ninth month in a row to see annual decline, and the report reveals that sliding rents were driven largely by secondary market units.