For the month of January, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported that realtors recorded 5,188 home sales. The 5,188 sales number represents an increase of 11.8% year over year. In January 2016, realtors reported that 4,640 homes changed hands.
The largest increase in home sales came out of the condominium apartment category with 1,636 sales recorded in January. The 2017 condo numbers represented a massive 26.7% increase over 2016. Semi-detached housing actually saw a decrease in January with only 423 homes changing hands. This decrease in the semi-detached category represents a -5.8% change from the January 2016 numbers.
The significant change in condominium sales may signify a shift that buyers are switching their focus to condos from the more expensive detached or semis and townhomes. Condo prices were ‘only’ up 14.5% year over year. Detached home prices recorded a 26.3% increase over last years January numbers; semis & towns were up 28.1% and 27.4% respectively.
High Prices, Low Supply
In addition to the aggressive increases in home prices, supply is also becoming increasingly constrained. New listings in the Greater Toronto Area were significantly down over last year with a decrease of -17.6%. The decrease in new listings may indicate that homeowners are increasingly deciding to stay put in their current homes; perhaps deciding to renovate their existing property to suit their wants.
“Home ownership continues to be a great investment and remains very important to the majority of GTA households… However, many of these would-be buyers will have problems finding a home that meets their needs in a market with very little inventory,” said TREB President, Larry Cerqua.
Overall, the average property price was up 22.3% over last year. Taking into account all property categories, the average sale price of a home in the GTA has settled at $770,745.
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