Toronto Crazy for Condos

TORONTO – August 4, 2011 - The condominium market in the Toronto CMA smashed nearly every existing record in Q2-2011.The most noteworthy record was for quarterly new condo sales: 9,455 units sold in Q2, topping the previous record high of 6,997 set in Q2-2007 by 35 per cent.
Q2-2011 also set records for the number of active projects, active units, sold index price, unsold index price, new condominium launches, units and projects under construction, and quarterly unit registrations.
There have been 24,731 new condominium sales over the past 12 months, topping the previous record high of 22,654 set in Q4-2007 by 9 per cent. There were 39,196 condominium units under construction in the Toronto CMA in 153 projects in Q2-2011, a high water mark for the CMA. Just 16 per cent of the 78,142 units in 306 active condominium apartment projects were unsold at the end of the second quarter, a record low.
Both the new and resale condominium markets saw increases in index prices, with unsold pricing in the new condo market rising from $529 psf in Q2-2010 to $552 psf in Q2, an increase of 4.3 per cent. The resale index price increased to $370 psf from $391, or 5.7 per cent. Additionally, index rents improved 5.5 per cent year-over-year.
Urbanation attributes the record-setting second quarter sales to the major influx of new product: 44 new project launches introduced 9,182 units to the market; new openings in the ‘905’ region actually had a higher absorption rate than the ‘416’area projects.
The resale condominium market is also on target for a record year. Similar to the new market, the resale condo market was boosted by the addition of new supply. A record 7,815 units registered in Q2-2011, nearly as many as the previous three quarters combined.
Looking ahead, Urbanation is forecasting 25,000 new condominium sales and 17,000 resale transactions for 2011. www.urbanation.ca.