TORONTO – Greater Toronto’s red-hot real estate market has broken yet another monthly record, with an all-time high of 12,870 home sales recorded during the month of May 2016.
According to the newest edition of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB)’s Market Watch report, the total reflects an impressive year-over-year increase of 10.6 per cent. It also turned out to be a busier month than April 2016, during which 12,085 properties were sold across the GTA.
“Whether we’re talking about existing homeowners or people looking to purchase for the first time, there is no shortage of buyers in the marketplace today,” said TREB president Mark McLean.
McLean also warned that buyers may soon feel the pinch of a shortage in new listings — which, contrary to sales activity, experienced a 6.4 per cent year-over-year decrease during May.
“While the record number of home sales through the first five months of 2016 is not necessarily surprising,” he added, “It does sometimes mask the larger story in the GTA: the shortage of listings, which has resulted in strong upward pressure on home prices.”
Indeed, the month also saw a 15.7 per-cent increase, year over year, in the average selling price of GTA homes — which rose to $751,908. A few other May trends were also worthy of note:
- Of all home types, by far the ones that experienced the highest sales volume were detached homes in the suburban “905” region (4,935 transactions) and condominium apartments in the urban “416” (2,137 transactions).
- The average price for detached homes in the 416, which eclipsed the $1-million mark months ago, continued to rise in May, ending the month at $1,285,693. The total reflects a year-over-year price growth of 15.2 per cent.
- The average Days on Market (D.O.M.) per listing also went down year-over-year, from 18 to 15.
“Widespread competition between buyers of singles, semis and townhouses across the GTA has underpinned the robust annual rates of price growth experienced so far this year,” noted Jason Mercer, Director of Market Analysis at TREB.
“However, it is also important to understand that tighter market conditions for condominium apartments have resulted in price growth well above the rate of inflation in this market segment.”
