Home sales for all major home types in the GTA continued to climb throughout the summer, with record results reported for the month of August.
According to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, 10,775 residential sales were reported through TRREB’s MLS system in August 2020 — up by 40.3 per cent compared with a year ago, when 7,682 sales were reported.
Low-rise homes drove sales growth. Townhouse sales increased by 45.8 per cent, detached homes by 50.6 per cent, and semi-detached houses by 66.8 per cent. Condominium apartment sales were also up on an annual basis for the second straight month but to a lesser degree at 10.9 per cent.
“Increased demand for ownership housing has been based on improving economic conditions, in terms of monthly GDP growth and job creation, and the continuation of very low borrowing costs,” TRREB president Lisa Patel said in a statement.
She adds that fewer households have chosen to go on vacation as a result of COVID-19 and instead have remained in the GTA and have been active in the housing market, “satisfying pent-up demand from the spring.”
Toronto real estate activity dropped nearly 70 per cent over the first few weeks of April due to COVID-19 measures. The TRREB average selling price dropped by 1.5 per cent. Market experts indicated that the real estate market had simply frozen at the time, due to people putting listing and buying on hold.
Both the number of new listings entered into TRREB’s MLS system and the number of active listings at the end of August were up on a year-over-year basis, with growth in new condo apartment listings outstripping growth in the other market segments.
“Generally speaking, market conditions remained very tight in the GTA resale market in August. Competition between buyers was especially strong for low-rise home types, leading to robust annual rates of price growth,” said Jason Mercer, TRREB’s chief market analyst. “However, with growth in condominium apartment listings well-outstripping condo sales growth, condo market conditions were comparatively more balanced, which was reflected in a slower pace of price growth in that segment.”
The average selling price of a home in the GTA was up by 20.1 per cent to $951,404 in August, compared to $792,134 from a year ago.