Photo: James Bombales
The GTA new home market continued its streak of strong sales performances last month, with 2,805 condo units sold, according to the latest report from the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), using data from real estate company Altus Group.
It was the best month for new condo sales this year, which isn’t bad in a market dealing with stricter mortgage qualification rules and higher interest rates.
“The pickup in interest from builders and home buyers that started to emerge in the GTA new home market in September gained momentum in October,” writes Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s executive VP of data solutions, in a statement.
“October was the best month we’ve seen this year not only in terms of sales — for both single-family homes and condominium apartments — but also new project openings.”
For a closer look at what the GTA new home market looked like last month, Livabl has rounded up 7 stats to put things into context.
1. While 2018 didn’t see the record sales numbers of 2017, new condo sales have been steadily climbing on a month-over-month basis for most of the year. They were down 44 percent year-over-year in October, but only 1 percent below the 10-year average, the best performance in months.
2. But the new single-family home market has been struggling for years. Just 491 single-family homes were sold last month, even with last October but 64 percent below the 10-year average.
3. A burst of new supply hit the market in October — 21 condo apartment projects and 14 single-family home projects opened last month, bringing remaining inventory levels to 16,283 units. The increase in supply could lead to more sales momentum in the new year.
4. According to David Wilkes, president and CEO of BILD, the new home market’s strong performance is a good sign for what 2019 could have in store. “It’s clear that when we are able to bring on more supply and give new home buyers more product to choose from, they get excited and motivated about making that choice,” he writes, in a statement.
5. Prices remained steady and strong. The benchmark price for a GTA new condo unit in October was $775,537, down slightly from September but up 14.5 percent over the last 12 months.
6. The slight decrease in price from September can be accounted for by the smaller benchmark size of units available to purchase, according to BILD.
7. Meanwhile, the benchmark price for a single-family home was $1,115,284, down 8.4 percent over the last 12 months, but remained relatively stable.
