The GTA is on track for another record year of home sales!

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) released its resale housing market figures for August 2016, announcing that the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is on track for another record year of home sales.

In August 2016, there were 9,813 home sales reported through the MLS® System, which is a 23.5% year-over-year increase. TREB points out that the majority of transactions were made on a workday and there were two extra workdays in August this year compared to 2015. After considering the two extra workdays, the year-over-year increase is more like 13%.

“The conditions underlying strong demand for ownership housing remained in place, including a relatively strong regional economy, growth in average earnings and low borrowing costs,” says TREB President Larry Cerqua. “Unfortunately, we did not see any relief on the listings front, with the number of new listings down compared to last year. This situation continued to underpin very strong home price growth, irrespective of home type or area.”

For all home types in the GTA, the average selling price went up 17.7% to $710,410. Some of the most extreme price growth was seen in the detached market, where there were 4,449 sales. 3,586 of these sales were in the 905 region.

The average selling price for a detached home in the 905 region went up 23.3% to $905,610. The average selling price in the 416 area didn’t go up quite as much, but the average is still higher, coming in at $1,206,637 (an 18.3% year-over-year increase).

“Population in the GTA continues to grow. The resulting growth in households coupled with favourable economic conditions and low borrowing costs means that we remain on track for another record year for home sales,” says Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis.  “Against this backdrop, TREB will also be releasing new third-party research, and consumer and REALTOR® survey results throughout the fall and winter, with discussions focusing on foreign buying activity and issues affecting the supply of ownership housing.”

With the price of low-rise housing continuing to grow rapidly, many buyers are turning to the condo market, which is why there were so many condo unit sales last month. In the 416, there were 1,964 sales, which is 33.5% more than last year. In the 905, there were 822 sales, which is a 28.6% increase.

Out of all the housing types, condo units are appreciating at the most reasonable rate, though prices are still getting slightly out of control. For all of the GTA, the average selling price of a condo unit went up 9.8% to $417,869.

How will the resale market’s listings slump and high prices affect the GTA’s new home market? Many builders are planning new home releases and openings for this fall, so hopefully there will be a bit more inventory come October.