TORONTO, ONTARIO, APRIL 4, 2018 – Toronto Real Estate Board
President Tim Syrianos announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported
7,228 residential transactions through TREB’s MLS® System in March 2018. This
result was down by 39.5 per cent compared to a record 11,954 sales reported in
March 2017 and down 17.6 per cent relative to average March sales for the
previous 10 years. The number of new listings entered into TREB’s MLS® System
totaled 14,866 – a 12.4 per cent decrease compared to March 2017 and a three
per cent decrease compared to the average for the previous 10 years. “TREB
stated in its recent Market Outlook report that Q1 sales would be down from the
record pace set in Q1 2017,” said Mr. Syrianos. “The effects of the Fair
Housing Plan, the new OSFImandated stress test and generally higher borrowing
costs have prompted some buyers to put their purchasing decision on hold. Home
sales are expected to be up relative to 2017 in the second half of this year.”
The MLS Home Price Index Composite Benchmark was down by 1.5 percent on a
year-over-year basis for the TREB market area as a whole. The overall average
selling price was down by 14.3 per cent compared to March 2017. While the
change in market conditions certainly played a role, the dip in the average
selling price was also compositional in nature. Detached home sales, which
generally represent the highest price points in a given area, declined much
more than other home types. In addition, the share of high-end detached homes
selling for over $2 million in March 2018 was half of what was reported in
March 2017, further impacting the average selling price. “Right now, when we
are comparing home prices, we are comparing two starkly different periods of
time: last year, when we had less than a month of inventory versus this year
with inventory levels ranging between two and three months. It makes sense that
we haven’t seen prices climb back to last year’s peak. However, in the second
half of the year, expect to see the annual rate of price growth improve
compared to Q1, as sales increase relative to the below-average level of
listings,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis. TREB
continues to stress that housing and housing affordability need to be at the
forefront of the policy debates leading into this year’s provincial and
municipal elections.
“A well-functioning housing market is not only important to
ensure that people have a place to live; it is also important because it
supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in spin-off
expenditures and billions of dollars in government revenues. Issues such as the
below-average level of housing supply and often inadvisable policy ideas and
negative measures such as land transfer taxes, vacancy taxes, speculation taxes
and second home taxes should also be thoroughly debated by all candidates,”
said Mr. Syrianos.
Comments