Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) have set a record for the month of April.
Sales in Canada’s largest housing market effectively quadrupled from April 2020 – the first full month of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 13,663 homes sold in Toronto during April, more than four times the number of sales reported in April 2020, when the economic impact of COVID-19 was at its peak.
Compared to the 10-year sales average of 10,000 units for the April 2010 to April 2019 period, the April 2021 sales result is up by 36.6%.
New listings more than tripled from April of last year. Compared to the 10-year new listings average between April 2010 and April 2019, the April 2021 new listings result was up by 18.3%.
The average selling price of a home in Toronto was $1.1 million during April, up 33% compared to April 2020, but was basically flat relative to March of this year. That contrasted with most years in the past when the average selling price increased between March and April.
Despite the year-over-year increases, April sales actually declined month-over-month compared to March of this year. A similar monthly drop was seen in the number of new listings reported for April.
Vancouver Sales Surge
Vancouver home sales also roared back in April, surging 342% year-over-year, according to data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
Residential home sales totaled 4,908 in April, driven by heightened demand in the Metro Vancouver area, which helped push the composite benchmark price 12% higher year-over-year to $1.15 million.
During the onset of the global pandemic, Vancouver home sales initially dropped to their lowest level for the month of April since 1982.
The latest report found that a record number of homes were put up for sale in Metro Vancouver during April, with 7,938 total listings, a jump of 243% from a year earlier. Despite the surge in year-over-year data, April home sales in Greater Vancouver dropped 14% compared to the previous month of March.
