MARKHAM – Persisting winter weather through the early weeks of April wasn’t enough to dampen the spring real estate market in the GTA’s “905” region, where detached home sales increased by 2.5 per cent year over year during the month according to the Toronto Real Estate Board’s latest Market Watch.
The 905 area includes Markham, Richmond Hill, Mississauga and many other vibrant communities just outside the city’s borders. TREB’s numbers indicate the semi-detached properties in this region are also selling well – enjoying a 1.3 per cent increase in April sales year over year.
A decrease in sales of detached homes within the “416” – the area encompassing urban and midtown Toronto – speaks to increasingly hot low-rise market conditions within the city. The city’s low-rise detached home market is strongly favouring sellers this spring, writes real estate reporter Carolyn Ireland:
Detached homes took the biggest hit in April […] although prices were up 2.5 per cent to an average of $852,090, according to TREB’s figures. That may reflect, at least in part, the lack of enough detached homes on the market to meet demand, which has been an ongoing issue, especially in Toronto, for three or four years and has contributed to bidding wars.
Here are a few additional highlights from TREB’s report:
- The average price of homes in the GTA (both 416 and 905) continued to stay strong, showing a 2-per-cent increase from $515,888 in April 2012 to $526,335 last month.
- Semi-detached houses in the 905 region experienced the biggest price boost, climbing by 4.3 per cent year over year.
- York Region was one of the hottest areas for existing home sales this month, with 5,080 properties successfully resold for a dollar volume of $3,070,146,037.
Buying a home, whether as a residence or for investment purposes, is a huge decision and very personal – you should always enlist an agent or broker to help you figure out which property type and location is best suited to your needs. In light of these encouraging numbers, this spring might be a great time to take a serious look at purchasing a townhouse, detached or semi-detached home in the GTA.
