New home buyers were out in full force again last month, snatching up 2,334 single-family homes across the Toronto region to make it the best September for the property type since 2003.
Sales for single-family homes, which include detached, semi-detached and townhouses, soared 168 percent over the previous year and came in 110 percent above the 10-year average for the month.
The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), along with its data partner, Altus Group, released the record-breaking September figures this week, marking another month of impressive new home sales activity.
“The level of market demand for new housing has remained strong, with year-to-date new home sales up from last year,” said Altus Group’s Ryan Wyse, in a media release.
“The single-family home market was very active in September, with particularly strong activity seen at newly launched detached and townhouse communities. To date this year, demand for new single-family homes has outpaced supply,” Wyse continued.
For years, new condo sales dominated the market supposedly as the favoured option for real estate investors as well as first-time buyers and downsizers. BILD CEO David Wilkes said that the sales shift seen over the past few months illustrated just how quickly consumer demand can evolve.
“We need to make sure that policy and regulations are flexible and adaptable enough to accommodate market demands, from increased demand for low-rise homes to condo units that reflect current market conditions both in size and built form,” he said.
New condo units sold in September were also up over the same month in 2019. There were 2,603 units sold by condo builders, up a relatively modest 15 percent over last year and 33 above the 10-year new condo sales average.
On the pricing front, the new condo benchmark price rose nearly 21 percent to $1,016,550, while the benchmark price for new single-family homes increased 9.1 percent to $1,179,249.
