GTA home sales kick into higher gear

March 16, 2020

Housing sales across Greater Toronto soared 45.6 per cent in February compared to February 2019 in a widely based rebound that reached from downtown Toronto to communities through the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
A total of 7,256 homes traded hands in February across the GTA, which was also up 14.8 per cent from January’s activity. The strongest improvement was in detached house sales in Toronto, which saw transactions increase by 54 per cent from February 2019, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB).
A total of 2,477 homes sold in the City of Toronto—up 32.8 per cent—while new listings rose just 6.5 per cent. The average home price increased to $989,218 in what was clearly a seller’s market.
The strong sales were seen in large centres throughout the GTA. In Mississauga, Brampton, and Burlington, home sales rose 53.3 per cent, while new listings increased by 8.6 per cent, leading to a sales-to-new-listing ratio of 67 per cent and an average home price increasing nearly 17 per cent to $869,381.
Should the trend of short supply continue, it will only fuel price growth throughout the year, said Jason Mercer, TRREB’s chief market analyst.
“TRREB’s current average price forecast is for 10 per cent price growth to $900,000 in 2020. [But] it is possible that further tightening in the detached market could push the overall average selling price above TRREB’s baseline scenario,” he stated. “This could unfold if sales growth continues to outstrip listing growth to the degree it has so far in 2020.”
Vancouver, the other high-priced housing market in Canada, is seeing a parallel performance. There were 2,150 home sales in the Greater Vancouver resale market in February, a 44.9 per cent rise over February 2019, and 36.9 per cent higher than the 1,571 homes sold in January 2020, reports the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
There were 685 single-family detached house sales across the Metro Vancouver region last month, which is a jump of 52.9 per cent year-over-year, but this did not lead to a price hike. The benchmark price for a detached Metro Vancouver house is now $1.43 million. This is 0.7 per cent lower than in February 2019.