August saw record housing sales in Toronto

According to Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) President Lisa Patel, August showed significant recovery in Greater Toronto Area (GTA) home sales, reaching a record monthly level. GTA REALTORS® report says there were 10,775 residential properties sold through TRREB’s MLS® System last month, marking a 40.3% annual increase.

Home sales rose annually in case of all main housing types, both in the City of Toronto and surrounding GTA regions. The main driver was the sector of the low-rise properties, including detached and semi-detached houses and townhouses. Condo sales also rose on a year-over-year basis, although not so strong. “Rising demand for homeownership is based on better economic conditions, e.g. monthly GDP increase, job creation, and extremely low borrowing costs. Moreover, fewer households decided to go on vacation because of COVID-19 pandemic. They stayed in the GTA and entered the real estate market, offsetting the spring activity slowdown”, – noted Patel.

Although new listings showed a strong increase for all home types, the condo sector outpaced other segments significantly. “In general, the market conditions were still very tight in the GTA resale market last month. The strongest competition between buyers was reported in case of low-rise home types. As a result, we saw robust annual price growth. Nevertheless, as growth in condominium listings outpaced condo sales growth, this market’s conditions were relatively more balanced, so the prices increase was slower here,” – said Jason Mercer, TRREB’s Chief Market Analyst.

In August, the MLS® Home Price Index Composite Benchmark rose by 11.1% from a year ago. Meanwhile, the overall average selling price went up by 20.1% to $951,404 on a year-over-year basis. The deal is that annual detached and semi-detached sales growth was stronger in the City of Toronto than in the surrounding GTA regions. That’s why growth in the overall average selling price exceeds growth in the MLS® HPI Composite Benchmark.

“As demand for homeownership keeps rebounding, it’s vital for policy makers to stay focused on the longer-term goal of increasing market supple, especially when we return to a normal immigration cycle. We need to focus not only on the overall supply, but on its diversity as well. It will be the main factor in solving the issue of housing affordability in the GTA and keeping the region competitive in attracting businesses and talent from abroad,” – noted TRREB CEO John DiMichele.