Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) rose 6% in October from a year earlier driven by demand for condominiums, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).
The average sale price of a home in the GTA during October was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis at $807,340. The average sale price for a condo in Canada’s largest city was $603,153 compared to $461,013 in the surrounding suburban areas. That represents a 4.1% change year over year.
A detached house in downtown Toronto came with an average price tag of $1.3 million, compared to $914,000 in the suburbs, reflecting a more modest increase of 1%. TREB said that the supply of homes in the GTA is tightening, with sales up and new listings down. There were 14,431 new listings in the GTA in October 2018 — down 2.7% compared to October 2017.
So far this year, the housing market in Toronto cooled in the spring when the federal government introduced new stress tests for homeowners and borrowing costs rose. Further interest rate hikes are expected throughout 2019. Nevertheless, the market in Greater Toronto has been rebounding since the summer months.
"Many households in the Greater Toronto Area remain upbeat on home ownership as a quality long-term investment. A strong regional economy and steady population growth will continue to support the demand for housing ownership as we move into 2019," said TREB in a written news release.
