GTA Resale Prices Surge in March 2014
By Lucas on Apr 09, 2014
The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) recently released a report on the Greater Toronto Area’s (GTA) March 2014’s resale market figures, as well as some Q1-2014 statistics.
GTA resale market
According to TREB, GTA REALTORS reported 8,081 sales through the TorontoMLS system in March 2014; a 7.2% increase compared to March 2013. TREB also pointed out that March’s year-over-year sales growth was much stronger than January and February’s.
Q1’s sales didn’t see as great of a gain, but the figures still came in about 3% higher than Q1-2013.
“Sales activity in the GTA accelerated last month. Compared to last year, a greater number of buyers found affordable home ownership options, as evidenced by sales growth for all major home types. Against this backdrop, however, overall inventory at the end of March remained lower than last year. This means competition between buyers increased, which is why the average selling price continued to climb,” said TREB President Dianne Usher.
The most popular housing type in the GTA in March 2014 was detached homes, with 3,937 sales. The least popular housing type was semi-detached with just 859 sales.
GTA average resale price
The average selling price in March 2014 for the resale market was $557,684, which is nearly an 8% increase compared to the same time last year. Q1 as a whole saw an even greater gain with an increase of 8.5% compared to 2013.
“With borrowing costs remaining low, and in fact declining, strong home ownership demand will continue to butt up against a constrained supply of listings. Strong price growth will be the result for the remainder of 2014. If the pace of price growth experienced in the first quarter is sustained, TREB may revise its outlook for the average selling price,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.
The housing type with the highest average selling price was detached homes at $709,487. The most affordable housing type for March 2014 was condos, with an average selling price of $357,172.
Chart via TREB
