Photo: James Bombales
As the rest the GTA housing market continues to experience month-after-month of lacklustre activity, the new construction market has managed to stay relatively hot, thanks to a growing demand for condos.
According to the latest sales number from Altus Group, released today by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), the benchmark price of a new condo jumped 25.4 per cent year-over-year to $758,370 in May.
For a closer look at what happened to the new housing market last month, BuzzBuzzNews has rounded up 7 stats to put things in perspective.
1. “Besides strong demand from new home buyers looking for more affordable options, the continuing increase in condo…prices can be partly accounted to an increase in average unit size to 892 square feet from 814 square feet a year ago,” reads the BILD release. “The average price per square foot [increased] to $850 from $743 last year.”
2. Condos made up 2,003 of the 2,345 total new home sales last month, down only one per cent below their 10-year sales average, though down 47 per cent year-over-year.
3. There were only 342 new single-family home sales, down 33 per cent year-over-year and 78 per cent from the 10-year average.
4. “May new condominium apartment sales were very encouraging,” writes Altus Group executive vice-president research consulting services Patricia Arsenault, in a statement. “Not only was it the strongest month since last November, but the sales of 2,003 units are in historical terms: there have only been five other years where May new condominium apartment sales topped this year’s performance.”
5. Only five projects, with a combined total of 710 units, opened in May, bringing the remaining inventory of new condo units to just 9,345. Meanwhile, the remaining inventory for new single-family homes increased slightly to 4,505 units.
6. The benchmark price of a new single-family home was down 6.4 per cent year-over-year, to $1,144,191.
7. “It is doubtful prices will continue to moderate [for single-family homes], considering embedded government fees, taxes and charges, and high land costs due to regulatory constraints,” writes BILD president and CEO David Wilkes, in a statement.
