I have been told pre-sales have slowed right down. Anything pre-construction that has not yet sold (or new construction with remaining inventory) has come to an abrupt halt. People can not afford to (or are extremely hesitant to, and will look at other options) be putting in another 7% tax, and in general I think there is a lot of misinformation, or unknowns about the HST and any possible rebates. We had a big boom prior to July 1st in this area, but now... nothing. Spring time is most definitely the peak, every single year. It starts slowing down come August, and becomes rather stagnant during the Winter, until it picks back up again in the Spring. I wouldn't be surprised to see existing homes selling faster now, with no great increase in prices coming. There will really be no choice, new construction just isn't happening. Come 2013 there are barely any projects that will be coming online, and 2011 & 2012 will only see a small handful. It will be interesting to see what happens then.
I really do think a lot of it has to do with HST misinformation I've heard new car sales have slowed down, along with certain other luxury items. Even though you ALWAYS paid GST & PST on them.
I've actually heard people saying "Well, I'm not going to buy that big screen now because of HST". *facepalm*
Or in the Sony Store, people talking about how "Your sales must have slowed right down with the HST..."
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