There are fledgling signs of recovery in the Toronto region’s real estate market. But those have come too late for homebuyers like Abid Mirza and his fiancée, Sapna Singh, who bought a pre-construction home in Barrie at the height of the market in February 2017.They think that their house, not yet finished, is now worth about $100,000 less than the $639,900 they agreed to pay.Mirza, a PhD student who works in communications and is the signatory on the home, said it will likely take years to recover the home’s value and, in the meantime, their financing costs have risen.To make matters worse, delays in construction — their builder, Colony Park Homes, had originally offered a closing date of Sept. 11, 2017, that was then extended to April 10, 2018, and is now set for Aug. 8 — have also prompted them to twice delay their wedding. Mirza and Singh, both 29, live with their respective families in Vaughan and Brampton. They want to begin their married life in their own place without the expense and inconvenience of moving into a rental.A real estate agent and former reporter, Singh said she and Mirza were aware there was risk in the housing market but she wasn’t prepared for the speed and severity of the market’s rise and fall in the past two years.“We saved up a down payment. We’re first-time buyers,” she said.Read more: Real estate experts predict a return to normal for slumping GTA housing pricesPrice drop crushes pre-construction home buyers’ dreamsThey bought their prebuilt homes at the market’s peak. Now they face financial ruinMoney that was supposed to go towards a wedding will now be used to make up for the lower property value they expect when the house is appraised prior to closing. The couple are at the tail end of a cohort of buyers and sellers who were caught mid-transaction when Ontario’s former Liberal government launched its Fair Housing Plan in April 2017. The policy, includi ...
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