Only 2 new home projects opened in August 2018
By Newinhomes on Sep 27, 2018
The Building Industry and Land Development Association released its new home sales figures for August 2018, reporting a drop in activity across the Greater Toronto Area.
According to Altus Group, BILD’s source for new home market intelligence, there were only 974 new home sales last month, which is actually 50% above August 2017, but 80% below the 10-year average. There were 803 new condo sales, which is 1% below the same period last year and 28% under the 10-year average.
“Pent-up demand is forming, which suggests we should see sales start to firm up this fall,” says Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s Executive Vice-President, Data Solutions.
BILD believes that homebuyers are still taking a breather on the sidelines to see where the market is headed after the effects of the government intervention and talk of rising interest rates.
David Wilkes, BILD President & CEO, adds “Once the market adjusts and more people start looking for homes, our region’s short supply of housing will mean that affordability will continue to be a challenge for many new homebuyers.”
Only two projects launched in August, so total inventory dropped to 13,619 units, 8,842 of which are condo units, and the other 4,777 are single-family homes. So, buyers may be sitting on the sidelines, but clearly builders are also playing the waiting game. Summer is typically slow for new home releases because builders spend these months planning their fall releases, which is when buyer activity typically increases.
The average price of a new condo unit jumped 21.8% year-over-year to $784,512, and the average for a new single-family home fell 12.4% to $1,129,129.
“Municipal governments, in particular, can make a big difference,” Wilkes says. “Ahead of the municipal elections in the GTA, BILD has been talking to municipal leaders and residents about straightforward steps that municipalities can take to increase housing supply, including making sure that government charges on new homes are fair, funding and building critical infrastructure, cutting red tape and speeding up building permits and inspections. Voters can find out more and send an email to their local candidates at www.buildforgrowth.ca.”
