The average price of a detached home in the Greater Toronto Area has pushed into the seven-figure range for the first time.
Looking at September resale transactions across both the GTA’s outlying 905 region and its central 416 area, which includes downtown, the average price of a standalone home reached $1,013,788, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board’s latest Market Watch report.
That works out to an increase of 23.6 per cent from the same month a year ago, the latest TREB Market Watch report says.
While detached homes in the 416 have been selling for an average of over $1 million since February 2015 with the exception of July last year — and $1,294,482 as of last month — the GTA-wide average sale price was $964,002 as recently as August.
The average sale price of a detached home in the 905, which encompasses the regions of Halton, Peel, York and Durham as well as Simcoe and Dufferin counties, was a slightly more modest $928,414 in September.
But 905 prices are rising faster than they are in the 416. On a year-over-year basis, the 905 average price was up 26.6 per cent in September compared to the 23-per-cent gains recorded in the 416 last month.
Condo prices are also appreciating more quickly in the 905. In fact, at $367,260, they’ve shot up 19.4 per cent year-over-year. Condos in the 416, on the other hand, are now selling for an average of $446,294, up a more muted 6.5 per cent. The GTA-wide average is now $422,002, which is 9.3 per cent more expensive than what was seen in September 2015.
For all housing types, including detached and semi-detached homes and townhouses and condo apartments, the average sale price in the GTA was $755,755, an increase of 20.4 per cent from one year earlier.
Echoing statements from previous releases, TREB President Larry Cerqua highlighted the role low resale supply levels are having on prices in the GTA. “We continued to see strong demand for ownership housing up against a short supply of listings in the Greater Toronto Area,” he said in a statement.
“The sustained lack of inventory in many neighbourhoods across the GTA continued to underpin high rates of growth for all home types,” Cerqua continued.
Sales recorded through TREB’s multiple listing service system continued on a tear with 9,902 homes changing hands in the GTA last month, or 21.5 per cent more transactions year-over-year.
In every segment across the GTA sales were up, with one exception: the semi-detached market. Semi-detached sales activity wilted 3.5 per cent in September from the previous year, which TREB attributes fewer available listings.
The number of homes on the market at the end of September totalled 11,255, down an eye-popping 36.6 per cent year-over-year.
Jason Mercer, TREB’s market analysis director, says the board will be examining what, if any, effect recent federal changes to the mortgage qualification process (and the closing of a tax loophole that let non-resident homeowners skirt capital gains taxes on home sales) will have on the GTA housing market.
“While these changes are pointed at the demand for ownership housing, it is important to note that much of the upward pressure on home prices in the GTA has been based on the declining inventory of homes available for sale,” he adds.
