Photo: Views From Lisa
The real estate market usually wakes up during the spring market. However, this year the sales started to rise significantly in February. Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 21.1 per cent increase in sales with 7,621 transactions in February 2016, with the most dominant increase in condominium segment. In Toronto Central the increase was even more extensive – 32.5 per cent increase in sales, and in the C02 area a substantial 68.3 per cent increase was recorded.
The number of new listings entered into Toronto Real Estate Board’s MLS® System was up on a year-over-year basis, but only by 8.2 per cent. This means the market conditions were tightened compared to the last year, causing prices to grow. The seller’s market conditions resulted in price growth. In the GTA the prices were annually up by 14.9 per cent to $685,278.
"Even after accounting for the leap year day, sales were above the previous record for February set back in 2010. Sales were up strongly from the 15th day of the month onward as well, despite the new federal mortgage lending guidelines coming into effect that require at least a 10 per cent down payment on the portion of purchase prices between $500,000 and $1,000,000,"
said Mark McLean, the President of TREB.
The prices in Toronto Central were up by a more moderate 10.4 per cent reaching $836,045. The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark was up by 11.3 per cent year-over-year.
"Recent polling conducted for TREB by Ipsos suggested that GTA households will remain upbeat about purchasing a home in 2016. Early sales results for January and February certainly support this view. With strong sales up against a constrained supply of listings, home prices continued to trend strongly upward,"
said Jason Mercer, TREB's Director of Market Analysis.
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