Toronto Home Sales And Prices Increase In June

According to the Toronto Real Estate Board, the number of home sales during the month of June was 7.5 per cent higher than the number seen in June of last year, while listings decreased by 3.8 per cent.

“As I start my term as TREB President, we are certainly in an interesting environment for ownership housing,” said incoming Toronto Real Estate Board president Larry Cerqua. “There is no doubt that demand is at a record level, but would-be home buyers continue to face an uphill battle against a constrained supply of listings, which has perpetuated strong price growth. Buyers and sellers alike continue to benefit from the value a Realtor brings to a transaction.”

He continued, “As the federal, provincial and local levels of government discuss housing policy in the coming months, issues affecting the lack of supply in the GTA should be of paramount importance. TREB will be undertaking, and making public, results of additional research in the second half of 2016, with the goal of proactively adding to the housing policy discussion.”

The average selling price for a home in Toronto during June 2016 was $746,546, which is an increase of 16.8 per cent over last year.

Jason Mercer, the Toronto Real Estate Board’s Director of Market Analysis, said that, “When TREB surveyed consumer intentions for 2016, we found that the majority of GTA households who were likely to purchase a home continued to be pointed towards some form of ground-oriented housing. This is why we continue to see strong competition between buyers in many neighbourhoods where supply remains constrained.”

Office, Commercial and Industrial Space Leases Increase In Q4 2015

According to the Toronto Real Estate Board’s Commercial Network Members, there was a 6.1 million square foot increase in leased office, commercial and industrial space during the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to the same time in 2014, a 19.6 per cent increase.

“It was a tumultuous time in Canada, from an economic perspective, in 2015,” said Mark McLean, president of the Toronto Real Estate Board. “Nationally, we entered into and then climbed back out of a modest recession. The volatility in economic growth obviously had its foundation in declining oil prices, which hit the economies of western provinces particularly hard. However, in other parts of the country, like Ontario and particularly the GTA, economic conditions were not so severe. The unemployment rate trended lower for much of 2015, suggesting that many firms in the GTA were taking on employees. This suggests that some companies may be anticipating stronger growth ahead, perhaps as a result of the lower valued Canadian dollar vis-à-vis the US.”

The number of sales of commercial, office, industrial spaces decreased by 27 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to the same time in 2014, for a total of 235 sales.

Mr. McLean continued, “Looking forward, it is quite possible that we could see an uptick in commercial leasing and sale activity in 2016, as the economy in the GTA and Ontario more broadly outperforms many other Canadian provinces. With this said, it is important to point out that after a good GDP growth result for the third quarter of 2015, a poor October result suggests that the rate of economic growth may have moderated in the fourth quarter. The continuation of economic volatility could slow some firms’ real estate investment decisions.”

How The Real Estate Boom Has Transformed Toronto

The Toronto Star has put together a fantastic collection of gifs that shows how the real estate boom has transformed different areas of the city. Pull up a seat and watch the city grow!

Housing Starts Increase In Toronto In June

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says that housing starts in the Toronto CMA increased to 39,170 in June from 38,415 units in May.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation tracks these numbers to measure the overall health of the housing market, and this trend is a sic month moving average of the SAAR (seasonally adjusted annual rates) of housing starts.

“Despite a slight pull-back in condominium apartment starts, low rise home starts trended higher, supporting an increase in total housing starts in June,” said the principal market analyst for the GTA for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Dana Senagama. “With inventories of new and resale low rise homes hitting all-time lows, households are increasingly looking for more choice and builders are channeling this demand towards new projects.”

For more, check out the housing starts release from the CMHC here.

Toronto Real Estate Market Will Grow 10% This Year

According to the Royal LePage House Price Survey, house prices in Toronto are expected to increase by 9.6 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014.

The average price for a detached bungalow increased to $712,622 in the second quarter of this year, and two-storey homes hit an average price of $834,728. The average price for a condominium in Toronto reached $402,901.

“The robust national average home price increases that we have seen in the second quarter are heavily influenced by activity levels in Toronto and Vancouver,” said the president and chief executive officer of Royal LePage, Phil Soper. “The housing industry in both cities boasts a foundation of prosperous labor markets driving demand for housing that is in limit supply – above average price increases aren’t going away any time soon. Looking to Canada as a whole, 2015 is shaping up to be a record year for housing, despite the cloud of economic uncertainty caused by low oil prices and twitchy global economies.”

In addition, it’s expected that another interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada could push the Toronto Real Estate Market even further.

For more, check out this CBC article here.

 

Home Sales Increase In June

According to the Toronto Real Estate Board’s latest numbers, there were 5,661 home sales in the first 14 days of June compared to the same time last year, which is a 15.7 per cent increase.

“We continued to see a record pace of home sales in the first half of June, as home buyers remained upbeat on ownership housing as a quality long-term investment,” said the President of the Toronto Real Estate Board, Paul Etherington, in a press release. “Growth in home sales was widespread, with year-over-year increases for all major home types, suggesting that households from many different age groups and walks of life are active in today’s market.”

The average selling price during this time increased by 12 per cent to $650,732.

“The familiar story of strong demand running up against a constrained supply of homes for sale continued to play out in the first half of June,” said the director of market analysis for the Toronto Real Estate Board, Jason Mercer. “Modest growth in new listings was not enough to offset the pent-up demand that has built during the first half of 2015. As a result, strong competition between buyers continued to result in strong price growth.”

Home Sales Increase During First Half Of May 2015

The Toronto Real Estate Board’s latest statistics say that home sales increased by 9.6 per cent in the first two weeks of May 2015, up to 5,655 sales compared to 5,160 sales during the same time last year.

“It is clear that demand for ownership housing remains very strong in the GTA,” said Toronto Real Estate Board president Paul Etherington. “So much so that, if the pace of sales experienced in the first half of this month is sustained in the second half, we will see record home sales for the month of May.”

The average selling price for these homes was $653,782, which is an increase of 10.7 per cent over last year.

“The low-rise market segments, including detached home sales, have been the driver of average price growth in the GTA this year,” said Jason Mercer, the Director of Market Analysis for the Toronto Real Estate Board. “As market conditions have tightened, average price growth has remained very strong. However, while tighter market conditions have been a key factor, so too has been a shift to higher priced homes. Detached sales growth in the City of Toronto, for example, has been strongest for high-end homes. The resulting change in the mix of homes sold has also been an important factor in pushing the average price higher.”

Home Sales Increase Across Canada In March

The Canadian Real Estate Association says that home sales increased by 4.1 per cent from February to March of this year, while actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was 9.5 per cent higher than in March 2014.

The President of the Canadian Real Estate Association, Pauline Aunger, said that, “Low mortgage interest rates are good news for affordability as we head into the spring home buying season. This spring should see buyers coming off the sidelines in places where winter was anything but mild. Like the weather, all real estate is local and nobody knows your real estate market better than Realtors, who remain your best source for information about sales and listings where you currently live or might like to in the future.”

The average selling price increased by 9.4 per cent, however when Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver are excluded, this figure falls to 2.4 per cent.

“Greater Vancouver and the GTA are really the only two hot spots for home sales and prices in Canada,” said the chief economist for the Canadian Real Estate Association, Gregory Klump. “Price gains in these two markets are being fueled by a shortage of single family homes for sale in the face of strong demand. Meanwhile, supply and demand for homes is well balanced among the vast majority of housing markets elsewhere across Canada.”

Home Sales In Toronto Increase In Mid-April 2015

According to the latest from the Toronto Real Estate Board, home sales in the Greater Toronto Area were up by 3.4 per cent to 4,635 sales in the first two weeks of April compared to the same time last year. New listings decreased by 4.6 per cent.

“Home sales in the GTA continued to increase in comparison to 2014 as a diversity of buyers took advantage of affordable home ownership options,” said Paul Etherington, the president of the Toronto Real Estate Board in a press release. “However, in many neighbourhoods, listings remain scarce, particularly for ground-oriented home types like singles, semis and towns. Given the amount of pent-up demand in the market today, sales growth would accelerate further if more homes were listed for sale.”

The average selling price increased by seven per cent to $625,121 compared to the same time last year.

Jason Mercer, the Toronto Real Estate Board’s Director of Market Analysis, said, “We are experiencing balanced to seller’s market conditions in most areas and market segments in the GTA. This suggests that home ownership demand is being driven by a wide swath of the population. On one hand, strong growth in condo listings has been met with strong growth in condo sales. On the other hand, we have also