Toronto's real estate board has reported a record number of house and condo sales in July and says the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is on pace to set a new record for home sales this year.
Almost 9,900 homes changed hands in the GTA last month, up eight per cent from the same month last year. Condo sales led the increase, up 14.4%.
The average MLS selling price in the GTA was $609,236 in July — up 10.6% year over year. The MLS Home Price Index for the Toronto area rose 9.4%.
Average condo prices in the GTA, however, rose a more modest 4.1% to $372,363.
In the city of Toronto, the average selling price of a detached home slipped below $1 million for the first time in several months, to $996,770. But that still represents a 7.1% increase from the year-ago average.
As hot as Toronto's real estate market is, Vancouver's is on fire. Vancouver's real estate board reported Wednesday that sales in July were up 30% from last year, and the benchmark price for a detached property in Metro Vancouver increased 16.2% to $1,141,800.
The real estate picture in the rest of Canada is much more subdued. Last month, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported that if Toronto and Vancouver are excluded from national selling price calculations, the average selling price shows a much more modest year-over-year increase of 3.1%.
