TORONTO, June 18, 2012 – Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 4,597 sales through the first 14 days of June – a result that was on par with the strong sales activity reported in the June 2011 mid-month release. While sales were flat on a year-over-year basis, the total number of new listings entered into the TorontoMLS system was up by 16 per cent to 8,382.
“Sales growth continued to be much stronger outside of the City of Toronto in the first half of June. While higher average home prices and slower listings growth in the City of Toronto likely explain some of the disparity in sales growth, recent polling suggests that the City of Toronto’s Land Transfer Tax is having a substantial impact on where many households are looking to buy,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Richard Silver.
“Recent polling indicated that three-quarters of people in Toronto and surrounding 905 regions who are planning to move over the next two years said that they are more likely to move outside of Toronto specifically because of the added upfront costs associated with the Toronto Land Transfer Tax,” continued Silver.
The average selling price for transactions during the first two weeks of June was $516,834 – up by over eight per cent compared to the average of $477,025 reported for the first two weeks of June 2011.
“The annual rate of price growth remains very high in the GTA. Increased listings will result in more balanced market conditions over the next year, but it will take some time before price growth will moderate to a more sustainable pace. Right now, months of inventory remains very low from a historic perspective and will likely not climb back to the pre-recession norm until 2013,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.
“Sales growth continued to be much stronger outside of the City of Toronto in the first half of June. While higher average home prices and slower listings growth in the City of Toronto likely explain some of the disparity in sales growth, recent polling suggests that the City of Toronto’s Land Transfer Tax is having a substantial impact on where many households are looking to buy,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Richard Silver.
“Recent polling indicated that three-quarters of people in Toronto and surrounding 905 regions who are planning to move over the next two years said that they are more likely to move outside of Toronto specifically because of the added upfront costs associated with the Toronto Land Transfer Tax,” continued Silver.
The average selling price for transactions during the first two weeks of June was $516,834 – up by over eight per cent compared to the average of $477,025 reported for the first two weeks of June 2011.
“The annual rate of price growth remains very high in the GTA. Increased listings will result in more balanced market conditions over the next year, but it will take some time before price growth will moderate to a more sustainable pace. Right now, months of inventory remains very low from a historic perspective and will likely not climb back to the pre-recession norm until 2013,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.
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