Toronto shows record sales of new condos

The Greater Toronto Area shows the third-highest quarterly sales number at a new construction market, pointing to a full recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

According to the latest report by Urbanation, there were 9,001 new condo sales in the GTA in the second quarter of 2021. It’s the third-highest quarterly sales result on record.

Such results were 5.5 times higher than in Q2 2020, when 1,637 units were sold, and only slightly lower than 9,075 sales reported in the second quarter of 2019.

“The previous quarter showed that the GTA new condo market not only fully recovered from COVID-19 but also returned to almost record sales,” – noted Shaun Hildebrand, President of Urbanation.

In Q2, there were 8,490 new condo units launched for pre-sales. As a result, we’ve seen a record-high absorption rate of 81%. The average cost of new units was $728,160, or about $1,110 per square foot (based on the average size of 656 square feet).

The largest sales number was reported in the GTA’s 905 region. It accounted for 58% of new condo sales. The average price of new condo units in the City of Toronto exceeded the prices seen in 905 communities ($834,504 against $661,537).

The unsold inventory in the GTA showed an annual drop by 10% to 11,716 units, marking an 11-quarter low level and a 23% decline from the 10-year average of 15,179 units. The average price of unsold units in the GTA was up by 9% annually and reached $1,196 per square foot.

“The 905 remained a driving force as developers and buyers started paying attention to more affordable areas of the region,” – says Hildebrand. “As the market inventory is near a three-year low level, more price increases should be expected in the nearest future”.

While the market supply remains restrained, a new construction activity went up in the second quarter, with the number of new condo constructions in the GTA rising by 11% from a year ago and reaching a record-high level of 86,346 units.