Oshawa has seen a significant increases its average home price over the past decade and continues to be an attractive destination for families looking to move outside of Toronto who want remain within a 45-60 min drive of the city (depending on traffic of course!), but most importantly are looking for an affordable place to call home.

Real Estate Trends

According to the latest Market Watch report published by Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (“TRREB”), the average home price in Oshawa for September 2020 was $617,000. That represents a 21% increase from the same time last year. For the nine months ended September 2020, the average home price in Oshawa was $584,000, up 15% year-over year.

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COVID-19’s impact on the real estate market throughout the GTA can clearly be felt across the suburbs, with significant amounts of families moving away from city center condos into detached homes. However, this year’s uptick in Oshawa prices is easily one of the largest increases to date.

The chart below illustrates the average home price trend in Oshawa since 2011 for all home type and detached homes. The average home prices have gone up in a big way since 2011, with the average sale price going from $244K to over $584K. This has translated to roughly 10% in growth annually since 2011.

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Oshawa home prices continue to be relatively attractive when compared to other cities in the Durham Region. Oshawa remains of the few cities in the GTA where you can potentially still find 3-bedroom bungalow homes for under $400K, including some of these gems below:

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Transportation

Transportation easily is one of the city's best selling points, with the 401 Highway running right through the city. It's a quick and easy drive to downtown Toronto, on some days taking as little as 40 min. Likewise, the city is connected to GO Transit and offers convenient train and bus services on a regular basis, most trips taking an average 60 min.

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Economy

Once known as the "Automotive Capital of Canada", Oshawa's has steadily diversified to become a regional hub in education and health sciences. With 3 post-secondary institutions, the city attracts and interesting mix of students, commuting professionals, and locals with all of the major attractions you'd expect from a city of over 180,000.

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Education

With schools from both the Durham District School Board and the Durham Catholic District School Board, the city offers many options for young families to choose from for both elementary and secondary/high school education.

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How Rent to Own Could be Beneficial

Rent to own a home in Oshawa can be a great steppingstone to achieve your homeownership dream to potentially benefit from the rising home prices as a renter. Let's say you have your eyes set on a home worth $400,000 today but you aren’t ready for a mortgage due to the lack of down payment or a not-so-perfect credit score. Essentially, you have two options:

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Option 1: Renting for now and wait until two years later to purchase the home

Using the 10% appreciation that Oshawa has had over the past decade, that means the same home will likely cost you $484,000 at end of the year 2.

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Option 2: Rent-to-Own with Requity Homes

Right from the start of our rent-to-own program, you know what you're going to pay for the home ahead of time. Instead of charging you a future price based on the historical growth (+10%), Requity Homes assumes a more modest 5% price increase every year, allowing you as a renter to benefit from the financial upside. In this case, you will be buying back the home at $441,000 at the end of the year 2 (versus $484,000 in scenario 1). That is $43,000 savings.

In many ways, rent-to-own can be better for your in the long run than just straight up renting and saving in a rising housing market.

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About Requity Homes

Requity Homes offers a new path to home ownership by helping you live in your dream home today while saving up your down payment one month at a time.

Our modernized rent-to-own program is designed to help aspiring home buyers who may not be ready for a traditional mortgage with a bank currently. Through our program, our goal is to help the tenant (future home buyer) get ready for a mortgage and eventually purchase the home.

If you would like to know more about how rent-to-own works, check the following articles: Rent-to-Own: A Beginner's Guide to How It Works?