On a recent episode of the Views from the Market podcast, Sasha Cucuz, CEO of Greybrook Securities Inc. joined host Mario Nigro, M&A partner at Stikeman Elliott to discuss the future state of the residential real estate market and where Greybrook sees growth opportunities in Canada and the US.
Listen to the full episode below.
Sasha provides his perspective on what has fueled the real estate industry during the pandemic and where Greybrook is focusing for new investment opportunities. Sasha shared how increased savings, buyer confidence in the market and increased borrowing capacity had created the perfect storm to allow new home buyers to enter the market over the past year. As a result, we have seen a massive surge in the real estate sector, but the host questioned will it last? For markets such as Southern Ontario, Sasha discussed Greybrook’s fundamentals and the supply and demand equation. The region continues to be a sustainable market due to consistent growth in population, diverse employment, and constraints on supply.
When asked which growth markets to watch out for, Sasha revealed Greybrook’s different strategy in Canada and the US. In Canada, particularly the Southern Ontario region, one of our targets remain areas peripheral to the GTA. Not because people are fleeing the city for the suburbs but due to overall affordability issues of new home buyers. In contrast, the best opportunity in the US for real estate investing is urban-core rentals. Sasha explains how the market is seeing a younger demographic, also with affordability issues, turn to rental housing when migrating to these expensive cities. Lack of significant rental housing in these high-density cities has created an opportunity to fill the void in the market.
Other highlights from the episode include: