Last month marked one of the best Januarys for new home sales in nearly two decades for the Greater Toronto Area, according to the latest market insights from the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).
In a report released today, BILD stated that the GTA new home market saw a “very busy January,” with 2,853 total sales last month, the highest number of new homes sold during January in 19 years. Last month’s sales were up 18 per cent compared to January 2021, and were 47 per cent above the region’s 10-year average.
By property type, a record 2,274 new condo apartment units were sold in January, including suites in low-, medium- and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units. Compared to the 10-year average, new condo sales increased 113 per cent, and were more than 40 per cent higher than the previous high established in 2017. Last month, 579 new single-family homes were purchased, down 33 per cent from the 10-year average. This includes detached, linked and semi-detached homes, and townhomes, but excludes stacked townhouses.
The GTA’s new home supply continued to be critically low in January. Remaining inventory for single-family homes hit a record low of 550 units last month. This represents 10 per cent of the level from 2019 — just before the COVID-19 pandemic started — and is below the 15,000-plus units on average for the 2000 to 2009 period.
With nine new projects launching in January, new condo supply jumped up slightly month-over-month to 8,333 units. This equals 2.9 months of inventory based on average sales for the past 12 months, and is far below the nine to 12 months of inventory needed for a balanced market.
Remaining inventory includes new units that exist in pre-construction projects, developments currently under construction, and in completed buildings.
“One needs to look no further than the strong demand and our weakening inventory numbers to know we have a housing supply crisis in the GTA,” said Justin Sherwood, BILD’s senior vice president of communications and stakeholder relations, in a press release.
“That is why BILD has welcomed the recent report from Ontario’s Housing Affordability Task Force and why we support its 55 recommendations to address the housing supply and affordability challenge in Ontario and the GTA,” he added.
For both new single-family and condo homes, benchmark prices “eased somewhat in January,” according to BILD. The benchmark price for new condo apartments was $1,150,685 last month, up 12.7 per cent over the last 12 months. Meanwhile, the benchmark price for new single-family homes was $1,771,162, an increase of 30 per cent from this point last year.
Altus Group, BILD’s official source of new home market intelligence, provided the data used in the monthly market report.
