By: Zoocasa
The Toronto housing market is showing slow and steady price growth that is just beating inflation.
Average sold prices in Toronto rose 3.2% to $806,755, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board’s (TREB) recently released July report. Inflation is currently at 2%.
“Broadly speaking, increased competition between buyers for available properties has resulted in relatively strong price growth above the rate of inflation for semi-detached houses, townhouses and condominium apartments, “ says TREB, which mines its conclusions from MLS listings. “However, the single-detached market segment, which has arguably been impacted most by the OSFI stress test, has experienced a slower pace of price growth, with average detached prices remaining lower than last year’s levels in some parts of the GTA.”
Driving the price growth has been the relatively more affordable, denser property types. Condo prices jumped 7.7% to $627,927 year over year, semi-detached properties grew a solid 5% to $981,802 and townhouses posted gains of 5.5% to $755,401.
In sharp contrast, prices for single-family properties sank 9.1% to $1,227,301.
That’s likely because single-family homes have simply become unaffordable for most Torontonians. The true cost of a large, well-maintained detached house in an area close to transit and amenities can easily top $2 million, even out of the core, in cities like Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Oakville. Banks are simply not loaning bloated mortgages anymore. If or until lending criteria loosens, prices for detached homes will likely be flat or negative.
Nevertheless, sales are still in the high double digits for detached houses and they continue to make up just under half, 45%, of all sales.
Sales in general really shone this July, skyrocketing 24.3% to 8,595 property transactions year over year. And after a preliminary seasonal adjustment sales were up 5.1 per cent in July from June 2019. It’s unclear why this sudden spike in sales occurred, but it’s likely to lead to higher price growth in the near future.
That’s because new listings are hardly keeping pace. New listings rose just 3.7% year over year to 14,393, and Toronto’s inventory was low to begin with. If sales sustain their run, market conditions will likely tighten further.
Want to see more data on Toronto’s housing market this July? Check out the infographic below.
Zoocasa.com is a leading real estate company that combines online search tools and a full-service brokerage to empower Canadians to buy or sell their homes faster, easier and more successfully. Home buyers can browse real estate listings on the website or the free iOS app.
