GTA resale market sees record high sales in February 2016!

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) released its monthly resale figures for February 2016, announcing that the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is still a sellers’ market!

A new record was set for the month with 7,621 transactions through the MLS in February, which is 21.1% higher than the same period last year - and the extra day in February had nothing to do with it. The number of new listings was also up, but only by 8.2%.

“Even after accounting for the leap year day, sales were above the previous record for February set back in 2010,” explains TREB President Mark McLean. “Sales were up strongly from the 15th day of the month onward as well, despite the new federal mortgage lending guidelines coming into effect that require at least a 10% down payment on the portion of purchase prices between $500,000 and $1,000,000.”

As a result of the high amount of sales and low amount of new listings, the average selling price saw quite a jump, hitting $685,278, which is 14.9% higher than February 2015. The average price of a detached home in the 416 went up by 16.3% to a staggering $1,211,459, while the 905 area saw similar price growth but averaged $816,705.

“Recent polling conducted for TREB by Ipsos suggested that GTA households will remain upbeat about purchasing a home in 2016,” says Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis. “Early sales results for January and February certainly support this view. With strong sales up against a constrained supply of listings, home prices continued to trend strongly upward.”

The largest year-over-year increase in sales was of condo units in both the 905 and 416 areas. Sales increased on average by 25.9% with a total of 2,046 sales (coming in second for most sales; first place belong to detached homes with a total of 3,627 transactions).

How long will the GTA be a sellers’ market? Is affordability threatening to be an issue in the resale market just as much as it is in the new home market?