March
3, 2017 -- Toronto Real Estate Board
President Larry Cerqua announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported
8,014 residential sales through TREB's MLS® System in February 2017. Despite
the fact that February 2016 had one more day due to the leap year day, this
result was up on a year-over-year basis by 5.7 per cent compared to 7,583 sales
reported last year.
The February statistics tell me that
many Greater Toronto Area households continue to view home ownership as a great
long-term investment. The high demand for ownership housing we're seeing is
broad-based, with strong sales growth for most low-rise home types and
condominium apartments. This makes sense given the results of a recent consumer
survey undertaken for TREB by Ipsos, which found an even split between
intending first-time buyers and existing homeowners who indicated that they
were planning on purchasing a home in 2017," said Cerqua.
While the demand for ownership
housing grew over the past year, new listings entered into TREB's MLS® System
in February were down on a year-over-year basis by 12.5 per cent to 9,834.
The MLS® HPI Composite Benchmark
Price was up by 23.8 per cent compared to February 2016. Similarly, the average
selling price was up by 27.7 per cent year-over-year to $875,983. Annual rates
of price growth continued to be strongest for low-rise home types, particularly
detached houses. Growth rates for condominium apartment prices were also in the
double digits, likely a result of strong demand from first-time buyers.
"The listing supply crunch we are experiencing in the GTA has
undoubtedly led to the doubledigit home price increases we are now experiencing
on a sustained basis, both in the low-rise and high-rise market segments. Until
we see a marked increase in the number of homes available for sale, expect very
strong annual rates of price growth to continue," said Jason Mercer,
TREB's Director of Market Analysis.
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