toronto-home-sales-november-2016

Photo: Michael Gil/Flickr 

Homes in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) sold for an average of $776,684 in November, an increase of 22.7 per cent from a year ago, the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) reports.

The board says it tracked 8,547 homes of all types changing hands through its multiple listing service (MLS) system last month, up 16.5 per cent over November 2015’s activity.

In all, more than $6.6 billion worth of homes were sold last month in the GTA.

Detached homes remained most expensive with an average sale price of $1,058,273, having climbed 27.6 per cent year-over-year, the largest gain of any segment. The average price of a condo unit was $443,586, a 15.1-per-cent increase over the same period.

The most noticeable activity increases in November were in the townhouse and condo corners of the market. Townhouse sales rose 15.2 per cent year-over-year, while condo sales surged 25.8 per cent.

“Home-buying activity remained strong across all market segments in November, says TREB President Larry Cerqua in a statement.

“However, many would-be home buyers continued to be frustrated by the lack of listings, as annual sales growth once again outstripped growth in new listings,” he adds.

The number of homes listed for sale via TREB’s MLS system at the end of November was down 35.8 per cent from a year earlier. Total new listings throughout the whole month dropped 6.4 per cent from the previous November.

The sales-to-new listings ratio — that’s sales divided by new listings, expressed as a percentage — in the GTA was 72.8 per cent.

Considered a gauge of market balance, ratio readings above 60 per cent suggest a seller’s market, while those below 40 tend to favour buyers. Anything in between is considered balanced.

“Seller’s market conditions translated into robust rates of price growth,” Cerqua continues.

The GTA municipality with the fastest-rising home prices was the Town of Aurora, where the composite benchmark price, which takes the quality of homes into account rather than a sweeping average, soared 29.9 per cent year-over-year to $836,600.

For the entire GTA, the benchmark price was $689,100, up 20.3 per cent year-over-year.

To relieve fast-rising home prices seen across the region, Jason Mercer, TREB’s director of market analysis, suggests changing the focus from demand to supply.

“Recent policy initiative seeking to address strong home price growth have focused on demand,” he observes.

“Going forward, more emphasis needs to be placed on solutions to alleviate the lack of inventory for all home types, especially in the low-rise market segments.”

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