The article below is excerpted from TREB Watch which was the basis of a Toronto Star article I posted on Facebook about last months average selling price of 27.7% over February 2016. This tops the annual average for 2016 of 22% indicating a continuous rise. It may be a good idea for those who are not yet homeowners to tone down their thoughts of a dream home to be in the market now.
Sales Up and Listings Down in February TORONTO, March 3, 2017 – Toronto Real Estate Board President Larry Cerqua announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 8,014 residential sales through TREB’s MLS® System in February 2017. Despite the fact that February 2016 had one more day due to the leap year day, this result was up on a year-over-year basis by 5.7 per cent compared to 7,583 sales reported last year.
“The February statistics tell me that many Greater Toronto Area households continue to view home ownership as a great long-term investment. The high demand for ownership housing we’re seeing is broad-based, with strong sales growth for most low-rise home types and condominium apartments. This makes sense given the results of a recent consumer survey undertaken for TREB by Ipsos, which found an even split between intending first-time buyers and existing homeowners who indicated that they were planning on purchasing a home in 2017,” said Cerqua.
While the demand for ownership housing grew over the past year, new listings entered into TREB's MLS® System in February were down on a year-over-year basis by 12.5 per cent to 9,834.
The MLS® HPI Composite Benchmark Price was up by 23.8 per cent compared to February 2016. Similarly, the average selling price was up by 27.7 per cent year-over-year to $875,983. Annual rates of price growth continued to be strongest for low-rise home types, particularly detached houses. Growth rates for condominium apartment prices were also in the double digits, likely a result of strong demand from first-time buyers.
"The listing supply crunch we are experiencing in the GTA has undoubtedly led to the doubledigit home price increases we are now experiencing on a sustained basis, both in the low-rise and high-rise market segments. Until we see a marked increase in the number of homes available for sale, expect very strong annual rates of price growth to continue," said Jason Mercer.
