Toronto Skyline by Paul Bica
The real estate market in the Greater Toronto Area doesn’t seem to have slowed down a bit this summer, unlike last summer. The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) reports a strong July 2011, with 7,922 sales through the TorontoMLS® system, which is a 23 per cent jump compared to July 2010 (6,425 transactions). The sum of sales for the first seven months of 2011 amounted to 55,863, which was a 1.3 per cent fall in a year-over-year comparison. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate result was close to 90,000 in July 2011, which was roughly the same as the previous months.
TREB President Richard Silver said that “strong home sales continued in July, with a substantial rebound over last summer’s slow-down brought about by higher mortgage rates, new lending guidelines and misconceptions about the HST. The greatest rebound was seen in the condominium apartment segment in the City of Toronto. If the current pace of sales holds up, we could see the second best year on record under the current TREB market area.”
The average price for a residential property in the GTA was $459,122 in July 2011, a ten per cent hike compared to July 2010 ($418,675). Detached houses in the City of Toronto contributed the most to the rise in prices with a 12 per cent growth, while the prices of semi-detached houses and condominiums in the city of Toronto climbed with the slowest pace, both just by six per cent year-on-year.
“Tight market conditions have boosted the annual rate of price growth this year. However, the listings situation is starting to improve. A better supplied market later this year and into 2012 would lead to a more sustainable rate of price growth,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.
For full GTA real estate statistics for July 2011, read the full TREB report.
