Will the average price of a resale condo unit hit $600,000 this year?
By Newinhomes on Jan 29, 2019
The Toronto Real Estate Board released its quarterly resale condo market results, reporting a drop in sales and new listings across the Greater Toronto Area.
In the fourth quarter of 2018, there were 5,191 condo sales reported through the MLS system, which is nearly 10% lower than the same period last year. New listings fell 11.2% from 8,186 in the last three months of 2017 to 7,272 in the fourth quarter of 2018.
With new listings dropping more than sales, the GTA’s condo market entered 2019 with tighter conditions, which drove prices up.
"The condominium apartment segment was the best-performing segment in terms of annual average rates of price growth in 2018,” says TREB President Garry Bhaura. “Condos represent a relatively affordable housing option. With a substantial decrease in listings in 2018, competition between intending buyers remained strong. This supported average price growth well-above the rate of inflation and annual rates of price growth reported for other ground-oriented home types.”
The average price of a condo unit in the GTA in the final quarter of last year increased 8.3% year-over-year to $558,728. The majority of the sales were in the City of Toronto, where the average price increased 8.9% to $598,664.
There were 3,728 condo sales in Toronto in the fourth quarter of 2018; that’s 72% of all condo transactions! The rest of the sales were mostly spread out across the region, with Peel placing second with just 654 sales and an average price of $424,860.
"The condominium apartment segment continued to be a key entry point into the GTA homeownership market in 2018,” says Jason Mercer, TREB's Director of Market Analysis. “Higher mortgage qualification standards meant that many first-time buyers were looking for more affordable housing options. Moving forward, the concern is that a continued lack of listings supply, despite relatively strong new condo completions as of late, will hamper the ability of potential homebuyers to meet their housing needs.”
If you’re looking for the most affordable area of the GTA to buy a condo, start searching in Durham where the average price was $383,872. Durham also had the least condo sales for the quarter with only 117.
Do you think GTA condo prices in the resale market will hit an average of $600,000 this year?
