Both sales and active listings were falling in Toronto this past month.
Bridge by Vivian Lynch
November wasn't that crazy across Toronto real estate market. Toronto realtors reported 6,251 residential transactions through TREB’s MLS® System. Sales were down by 14.7 per cent in year-over-year comparison. Yes, last year the market had a spike in sales in November due to coming new OSFI regulations and incoming stress-test.
Detached homes were down by 14.2 per cent in sales, semi-detached homes and townhouses by 15.7 and 16.4 per cent respectively. Even condos had a deep fall by exactly 14 per cent.
Another falling segment and persistent problem in the market remains the listing ratio. New Listings were down by 26.1 per cent. Active listings have fallen by 9.8 per cent. The current low inventory is continuing to drive the average price up despite the falling sales. Toronto Real Estate Board President Garry Bhaura commented on the situation:
New listings were actually down more than sales on a year-over-year basis in November. This suggests that, in many neighbourhoods, competition between buyers may have increased. Relatively tight market conditions over the past few months have provided the foundation for renewed price growth.
The average price was $788,345, up 3.5 per cent across all segments. Average price for a detached home across GTA was $1,008,768, which marks 1.3 per cent growth. Semi-detached homes sold for $791,760 (8.3 per cent growth), and townhouses for $647,418 (3.1 per cent growth. Average price for a condo apartment in the GTA was $556,723 which is 7.5 per cent more than last year this time. Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis, thinks that OSFI-mandated mortgage stress test might be behind tightening the market conditions in some segments:
Home types with lower average price points have been associated with stronger rates of price growth over the past few months. Given the impact of the OSFI-mandated mortgage stress test and higher borrowing costs on affordability, it makes sense that the condo apartment and semi-detached market segments experienced relatively stronger rates of price growth in November, as market conditions in these segments remained tight or tightened respectively over the past year.
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