Photo: Insight Imaging: John A Ryan Photography/Flickr
Snow, ice and frigid temperatures didn’t put much of a chill on the Toronto real estate market. The newly released Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) numbers for December show a sales spike of nearly 14 per cent over December 2012 (Tweet this) while new listings were down by nearly four cent year-over-year.
As for the entire 2013 year, the GTA counted 87,111 sales, up two per cent from 2012’s tally. As sales remained steady and supply stayed relatively tight, the price of a GTA home rose by 8.9 per cent year-over-year in December 2013 to $520,398 (Tweet this).
“After a slow start to the year, sales growth accelerated to a brisk pace in the second half of 2013. Despite the inclement weather in December, we finished the year with a respectable gain in transactions compared to 2012,” said TREB President Dianne Usher in the news release.
“The result could be a further increase in sales in 2014.”
Just as sales increased over the course of the year, the price of a home also rose with the average selling price for 2013 as a whole rising 5.2 per cent year-over-year to $523,036.
“The average selling price will be up again in 2014 and by more than the rate of inflation. The seller’s market conditions that drove price growth in the second half of 2013 will remain in place in many parts of the GTA. Some neighbourhoods, especially those characterized by low-rise home types like singles, semis and townhomes, will continue to have less than two months of inventory,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.
Though every property type saw price growth in December, the biggest price gainers were the low-rise property types in Toronto proper. Here’s how some of the numbers for the last month broke down:
Top transactions
- Condo sales in the 905 were up by 46.1 per cent compared to December 2012 (Tweet this).
- Condos sales in Toronto-proper were up 20.7 per cent year-over-year.
- Townhouses in the GTA saw a 15.4 per cent boost in sales.
Top price gainers
- The cost of a detached home in Toronto rose by 18.9 per cent to $864,351 (Tweet this).
- The price of a semi in the 416 increased by 15.9 per cent to $644,423.
- Townhouses in Toronto rose by 13.4 per cent to $447,188.
