Year-over-year both sales activity and prices are up in Toronto, according to new data released from TREB.
Numbers for the first half of July, state that the number of sales rose by 35 % to 3,609, over last year’s 2,672.
“Low mortgage rates, rising incomes and good news on the jobs front have kept consumers confident in purchasing a home in the Greater Toronto Area. In fact, home buyers are much more confident than they were this time last year when concerns around the HST, interest rate hikes and new mortgage lending rules had temporarily put a damper on home sales,” said Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) President Richard Silver
There has been a recent increase in listings in the GTA too, which is welcome news to Realtors, and there is hope that this trend will continue, putting an end to upwards price pressure and bidding wars.
Nevertheless, prices grew substantially during the first two weeks of July, because of currently tight market conditions. The average selling price was $464,277, which is 9.6 % higher than it was this time last year.
“Enhanced competition between home buyers continued to drive strong price growth through the first two weeks of July,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “While new listings were up year-over-year in the first half of the month, seller’s market conditions were sustained as sales grew at an even greater rate.”
Looking at various housing types, sales for detached homes increased by 37% year-over-year; sales for semi-detached homes went up by 32%; sales for townhouses went up by 18%, while condo sales registered the biggest increase- up by 47%.
In terms of prices, those for detached homes climbed by 9%; prices for semi-detached homes went up by 8%; prices for townhouses went up by 13% while condo prices climbed by 8%.