The benchmark price for a new single-family home hits over $1.8 million.Photo: Helen Filatova / Adobe Stock

The benchmark price for a new single-family home in the Greater Toronto Area hit well over the $1.8 million mark in February.

According to the most recent data released by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), the benchmark price for a new single-family home was $1,858,713 in February, up 35.3 per cent over the last 12 months. By comparison, the benchmark price for a new condominium apartment in the GTA rose 13 per cent over the same time period to $1,177,739.

Edward Jegg, manager of research consulting at Altus Analytics by Altus Group, noted in the monthly market report that benchmark new home prices for both the single-family and condo apartment sectors “set record highs in February.”

“The steep increases in benchmark prices that we have seen over the last few years reflect our region’s critically low supply of new homes,” said Dave Wilkes, president and CEO of BILD, in the report. “If this trend continues unchecked, we are all going to feel the effects, as more and more families make the difficult choice to leave the GTA in search of housing and our region loses out on economic growth, jobs and tax revenues. Now is the time for all parties to come together and act decisively to address our housing supply and affordability crisis,” he added.

Last month was the best February on record for new construction condo sales within the GTA.

In February, 3,048 new condo apartment units were sold, up 78 per cent from February 2021 and 67 per cent over the 10-year average. This establishes “a new monthly high for condominium apartment sales for February.” Last month’s condo sales total includes units in low-, medium- and high-rise buildings, in addition to stacked townhouses and loft suites.

In total, 3,630 new homes were purchased within the GTA during February, a 17 per cent increase from the region’s 10-year average. New single-family homes accounted for just 582 of February’s transactions, 54 per cent below the 10-year average. New single-family units include detached, linked and semi-detached homes and townhomes, but exclude stacked townhouses.

Remaining inventory for both new condo and single-family homes continues to be at chronically-low levels in the GTA. In February, there was a record-low of just 546 single-family units available for sale. For condos, several new project openings brought some supply relief as total remaining inventory grew slightly compared to the previous month to 9,165 suites.

This represents just three months of total inventory based on average sales for the past 12 months, which is much less than the nine to 12 months of inventory needed for a balanced market. Remaining inventory includes those units in pre-construction projects, as well as units in projects currently under construction and in completed buildings.

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