Toronto real estate sales and prices up in January, inventory down
Toronto real estate prices continue to rise in a face of falling inventory. According to the latest data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), 4,581 homes changed hands in January 2020 – a 15.4-per-cent increase year-over-year. On a month-over-month basis, sales rose by 4.8 per cent. Active listings, meanwhile, are down 35 per cent. Strong sales coupled with constrained supply resulted in double-digit price growth last month.
“We started 2020 where 2019 left off, with very strong growth in the number of sales up against a continued dip in the number of new and available listings,” TRREB President Michael Collins noted in the Toronto real estate board’s release this morning. “Tighter market conditions compared to a year ago resulted in much stronger growth in average selling prices. Steady population growth, low unemployment and low borrowing costs continued to underpin substantial competition between buyers in all major market segments.”
In lockstep with the rising rate of home sales and dwindling inventory, average Toronto real estate prices were up in January. The Greater Toronto Area, prices were up 12.3 per cent, driven by single-family home and condominium apartment sales in Toronto proper. The average selling price in the GTA was $839,363 (compared to $747,175 at this time last year). Meanwhile in Toronto proper, the average price in January was $884,385.
TRREB notes that the key price differentiator between January 2020 and January 2019 was in the low-rise property market, particularly with regard to detached houses. Many buyers who were previously priced out of the market due to the mortgage stress test are re-entering, driving strong year-over-year detached price growth.
In its 2020 Housing Market Outlook, RE/MAX calls for home prices in Toronto proper to rise by six per cent throughout 2020, to $933,691. This expectation is based on continued demand for detached housing, higher employment rates and economic growth, as well as improved affordability compared to the last three years.