New home sales eased up a bit in the GTA in July. But don’t read too much into the reduced activity – it’s the typical July trend, according to new insights from the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD). And prices were higher than ever.
In a newly-released market report, Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence, stated that 2,140 new units were sold during July. This is 14 per cent below the region’s 10-year average.
“New home sales took a bit of a breather in July,” said Edward Jegg, team leader of analytics at Altus Group in the report. “A drop in July is typical, as potential buyers take time off to enjoy too-short Canadian summers and fewer new projects launch.”
Jegg noted that market moderation which followed the surge of sales experienced between July 2020 and April 2021 also contributed to the seasonal dip.
New condo apartments accounted for the majority of sales last month, with 1,478 units sold in July across the low-, medium- and high-rise building types, plus stacked townhouses and loft units. Toronto ranked as the region with the most reported condo apartment sales with 544 units sold, followed closely by Peel Region with 528 sales last month. July’s total condo sales were 11 per cent below the 10-year GTA average.
Single-family home sales, which includes detached, linked, and semi-detached residences and townhouses (excluding stacked townhouses), reported a noticeable decline from the decade’s average. With 662 homes sold in July 2021, sales dropped 21 per cent below the 10-year average. Most single-family home sales took place in York Region, where 295 transactions were logged last month, followed by Durham Region with 228 sales.
Although the number of sales was down last month, new home prices were said to have reached record highs in July, according to BILD. The benchmark price for new condominium apartments reached $1,091,648 in July, up 9.8 per cent over the last 12 months. New single-family homes saw an even bigger increase in price, jumping 28.4 per cent year-over-year to a benchmark of $1,517,841.
New home inventory continued to drop in July from the previous month for both new condo apartments and single-family homes, falling to 9,483 and 1,598 units, respectively. This accounts for all available supply in pre-construction projects, developments currently under construction and units in completed buildings.
“Low inventory levels for both condominium apartments and single-family homes are a persistent problem in the GTA that exerts upward pressure on prices,” said Dave Wilkes, BILD’s president and CEO, in July’s market report.
“We are encouraged to see that the issues of housing supply and affordability are prominent in the lead-up to the federal election—as they must be in elections at every level if we are to build the housing people in our region need, at prices they can afford,” he added.
