GTA Sees Nearly 40,000 New Home Sales in 2014
By Lucas on Jan 20, 2015
The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced that the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) saw nearly 40,000 new home sales in 2014.
Hitting 39,736 sales last year is good for two reasons: job creation and population growth. "Sales of homes today translate into the jobs of tomorrow," explains BILD President and CEO Bryan Tuckey. "The building and development industry is a major economic engine in our economy, creating approximately 200,000 well-paying jobs in construction and related fields every year. For example, each construction crane you see is responsible for the creation of up to 500 jobs. The wages earned from these jobs later show up as purchases across the GTA, further contributing to our growing economy."
2014 had 41% more sales than 2013, according to RealNet Canada, which is good because of the amount of people moving into the GTA annually. "Our region is increasing by up to 100,000 people each year, and it is important that our industry creates between 35,000 and 40,000 new homes annually to accommodate this growth," adds Tuckey.
GTA new home sales and prices
Thanks to strong high-rise sales in 2010 and 2011, there were 25,571 completions last year. As far as sales go, there were only 815 in December, but 21,991 in total for all of 2014. That’s more than 6,000 sales higher than 2013. The year-end average price went up 4%, ending at $454,476.
The low-rise market had an interesting year with the average price exceeding $700,000 for the first time, and the year ended with a new record high, hitting $705,813. In December, there were 1,176 sales in the GTA, hitting a total of 17,745 for 2014. Even though low-rise inventory, specifically detached homes, was tight last year, there was still more than 5,000 sales than the year before.
Zigg Condos rendering
December 2014 highlights
December may be traditionally slow for sales, but let’s look back at a few of the highlights of the month that will surely generate some market activity early this year.
One of the biggest bits of news that surfaced last month was that Mattamy Homes will be purchasing Monarch in the first quarter of this year for over $300 million. Mattamy’s reasons for purchasing? They’re gathering up land and making their entry into the high-rise game. Mattamy definitely has a lot planned for 2015!
Another exciting moment in December was when Fieldgate and Madison released the interior renderings of Zigg Condos. As you’ve probably heard, mid-rise boutique condos are going to be hot in 2015 and the release of the Zigg renderings got everyone hyped up for the new year!
Speaking of mid-rise condos, Tridel made a splash when they released their floorplans and pricing for AQUAVISTA, the newest condo revealed for the Bayside Toronto master-plan. With prices starting in the low $300,000s and ranging up to the millions, there is something for everyone at this exciting waterfront condo.
AQUAVISTA - via Tridel
These three stories and many more have the whole team at Newinhomes.com very excited about what 2015 holds for the GTA’s new home market. Stay tuned - we’re sure this year will be full of amazing stories about the constant transformation the GTA is undergoing.
