Photo: James Bombales

Toronto home sales jumped in November, as buyers rushed to complete deals before new mortgage rules come into effect in 2018.

“We have seen an uptick in demand for ownership housing in the GTA this fall, over and above the regular seasonal trend,” Toronto Real Estate Board president Tim Syrianos wrote, in a statement. “It is possible that the upcoming changes to mortgage lending guidelines, which come into effect in January, have prompted some households to speed up their home buying decision.”

According to data released today by TREB, there were 7,374 home sales in the GTA last month, up from October’s 6,379 sales, though down from November 2016’s historically high 8,503 sales.

BuzzBuzzNews has collected 7 stats which provide a fuller picture of Toronto’s November sales spike.

1. New listings were also up in November. New GTA listings climbed to 14,349, up 37.2 per cent from November 2016’s historically low supply of listings.

2. TREB president Tim Syrianos believes the spike in demand might mean the effects of Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan are fading. “Similar to the Greater Vancouver experience, the impact of the Ontario Fair Housing Plan and particularly the foreign buyer tax may be starting to wane,” he writes.

3. The average sold price in the GTA was $761,757, down 2.1 per cent from November 2016’s $777,091. At the same time, the MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price was up by 8.4 per cent year-over-year.

4. The average selling price for all home types combined was down by 2 per cent year-over-year, largely due to a drop in detached home sales of 19.1 per cent from November 2016.

5. In addition to falling sales, detached homes were the only housing type to see a drop in year-over-year prices, with the average price of a detached GTA home falling 5.8 per cent year-over-year.

6. Condo prices continued to be red hot, with the average price of a GTA condo sitting at $516,965 in November, up 16.4 per cent from this time last year.

7. According to TREB’s director of market analysis Jason Mercer, some housing types remained within a balanced market, while others slipped into sellers markets. A sales-to-new-listings ratio of between 40 to 60 per cent is considered a balanced market, with ratios falling below and above indicating a buyers and sellers market, respectively. “We are still seeing seller’s market conditions for townhouses and condominium apartments in many neighbourhoods versus more balanced market conditions for detached and semi-detached houses,” says Mercer.

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