As you may know I receive thousands of pieces of mail, actual mail, asking me the question “Dear Mr. So Called Realtor.  If you’re so smart, then how come I can just ask Artificial Intelligence any question on the internet these days and I will get the answer?  Why do I even need you?” (vintage Top Gear reference).

Well, with the creation and continued use of AI systems such as OpenAI’s Chat GPT platform the question is essentially when, not if, AI will replace many human queries.  However, the time is not today.  I’m here to defend the honour of humanity!  Sure, you could ask AI text platforms to write you a business plan, write song lyrics in the manner of David Bowie, create an entire essay for your highschool paper (for real), conduct any manner of text based needs to almost perfect form, and it’s getting better every day (a thought that keeps some people awake at night).  But, is it accurate?  

Well readers, let’s have some fun and put that to the test, shall we?  I’ve created an account with Chat GPT and made a very simple request.  With the information calculated – incredibly quickly – based on many many terabytes of data the Chatbot came up with the following, which I’ve broken down into parcels and annotated after each describing the accuracy.  Let’s see how AI is coming along, shall we?

The Query, and the Reply

Query to Chat GPT by OpenAI: “Write a blog post about the 2023 Real Estate Market in Ontario Canada”. The following response with be as follows, Chat GPT reply in boxes, and my annotations below.

The real estate market in Ontario, Canada is expected to be strong in 2023, with rising home prices and a continued high demand for housing.

The first paragraph from the AI platform is pretty straightforward.  It’s predicting a strong market in 2023.  The data it’s collected is likely producing a graph showcasing the strong numbers historically, and probably reading into the problems we have in the market today: shortage of affordable housing, and increasing demand.  Pretty spot on I’d say.

One factor driving the market is the low interest rates, which make it more affordable for potential buyers to secure a mortgage and purchase a home. Additionally, there is a growing population in Ontario, which is increasing the demand for housing.

Here is where the historical data is a little off.  Since I don’t know where the data is being pulled (essentially the entire internet), I can only assume its processing based off of early 2022.  As we know interest rates have climbed quickly, and word is that at the end of January we are likely to see a small increase again before leveling off for the rest of the year.  With that said, the growing population has much to do with the immigration, which is only getting more prominent and will continue to be.  So minus one point for the interest rate comment, plus one for the growing population.  

Another factor that will likely continue to support the real estate market in Ontario is the limited supply of homes for sale. This scarcity of available properties is likely to push prices upward as buyers compete for a limited number of homes.

Classic supply and demand portion.  But how it knows of our shortage of homes for sale is staggering, if you don’t consider the multitude of blog posts and articles stating so for a while now.  Remember, I didn’t write this.  I asked an online algorithm a request and it wrote this in about 5 seconds.  Also, this portion is spot on.

However, it’s worth noting that the market conditions can vary depending on the location. For example, prices in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) have been rising at a faster pace than the rest of the province. The market in the GTA is expected to be particularly active in 2023, with many buyers looking to take advantage of the low interest rates and high demand for housing.

This advice is very true as the market is hyper local anymore.  One street can theoretically make all the difference, but how the AI brings this to light is, well, intelligent.  However, the pesky note on interest rates snuck in again. Bad little AI.

It’s also worth noting that the market could be affected by the economic recovery from the pandemic and how it will change people’s behavior. As the economy recovers, more people may be able to afford to buy homes, which could boost demand. However, if the economic recovery is slow, it could dampen demand and slow down the growth in home prices.

I didn’t expect this, truthfully.  It’s as if the AI platform cross references Real Estate theory with economic theory, which it decided to do on its own essentially.  It makes sense to do, as I would do as well being asked the same question, but to think that AI has come this far is a bit staggering.  Is the Chat GPT correct in its statement?  Completely.

Overall, the real estate market in Ontario is expected to be strong in 2023, with high demand and limited supply driving up prices. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the market conditions can vary depending on the location and the state of the economy.

I tend to agree with the Chat GPT AI here, as do many of my colleagues.  I do believe we are past the low point of Q4 2022, and we are quickly coming out of a slow winter. I believe the ideology of the seller and buyer is changing, and buyers are still very much here in Windsor Essex county.  I don’t fully agree with increasing home prices very much, but that’s to be seen depending on the state of the buyers in the market.

Conclusion

Overall, you can place me in the category of “AI is much farther along than we thought”, but still firmly in the other category of “but not there yet” as well.  With the readability and writing style feeling very real, it’s easy to see why people cant tell the difference between computer derived and man made. So long for now Chat GPT, I’m sure we will cross paths again.  For now, keep asking humans for advice.  It’s the only way to get accurate information.