Toronto & GTA MLS® Home Sales - January, 2017: Listing Inventory Down 50% YoY

Toronto, Ontario, February 3, 2017 - Realtors® in Metropolitan Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area reported 5,188 home sales through the Toronto Real Estate Board’s MLS® system in January which represented an 11.8% rise over same month one year earlier - despite a chronic lack of listing inventory - as announced today by TREB President Larry Cerqua. Chart - Toronto & GTA Home Sales & Average Price by Major Home Type 2017-01

While sales of Freehold [“Low-rise”] homes were lower in some areas - no doubt due to the combination of low inventory and elevated price levels - sales of Condominium Apartments were very strong. Not surprisingly, price growth for those Freehold homes was very strong and, with inventory and interest rates at or near record-low levels, that trend appears set to continue.

Overall, those 5,188 homes [including all types] sold - compared to 4,640 last January - averaged a selling price of $770,745, up 22.3% over last January’s $630,193. [All figures are year-over-year comparisons unless otherwise noted.]

Price Growth Strong Across the Board

Looking at specific numbers, sales of Detached homes within Metro Toronto - “the 416 [area code]” - were off 5.5% to 466 units at an average sale price of $1,336,640, up 26.8%…more than a quarter of a million dollars higher than 12 months ago. In the balance of the Greater Toronto Area - “the 905” - 1,795 Detached homes changed hands, up 11.9%, at the bargain average price of $999,102, a 27.8% year-over-year jump [a $200,000+ single-year gain]. Chart - Toronto & GTA Home Sales Year-Over-Year Summary @ 2017-01.png

Semi-Detached sales were lower in both Toronto and the balance of The GTA, though, with average price gains even stronger than the Detached group, there’s little doubt the drop in unit sales is more a function of low availability than anything else. Including all TREB areas, 423 “Semis” changed hands, off 5.8%, at an average price of $661,545, up 28.1%.

As for the Condo Apartments, there were 1,125 sales in Toronto, up 26.8%, at an average sale price of $471,409, up 13.1%. In “the 905”, 511 Condos sold, up 26.5%, at an average price of $379,169, up 18.5%.

Sales of Townhomes were up consistently across the TREB market area, rising 7.2% overall to 777 units at an average price of $617,001, up 27.4%.

Bungalows Particularly Popular...

Bungalows in Toronto and the GTA remained very popular with Buyers…for varying reasons: Folks Chart - Toronto & GTA Home Sales Historic Annual Stats to 2017-01.png downsizing and who aren’t ready to give up their Bar-B-Qs and gardens for a Condo balcony are also preferring the vast majority of their living space on a single level; then there’s the builder/contractor crowd which finds Bungalows an attractive option for a “fix & flip”…or more substantial project…and younger owner/occupiers find them attractive for a combination of those reasons - the confines of a balcony, for example, especially if they’re starting families. Looking further down the road, some Buyers also cite the potential option of adding a 2nd storey to a Bungalow rather than having to move their young families in search of more floor space should the need or want arise.

Aside from - and, obviously, related to - the price growth trend, the most telling statistic in the January MarketWatch report is the Total Active Listings figure. While many have predicted that inventory will begin to rise as “matures” downsize - and take advantage of prices that have risen so sharply in recent years to pad retirement accounts - we hear a familiar refrain almost daily: “Sure we’d sell…but where would we go?”

TREB’s Director of Market Analysis, Jason Mercer: “The number of active listings on TREB’s MLS® System at the end of January was essentially half of what was reported as available at the same time last year. That statistic, on its own, tells us that there is a serious supply problem in the GTA – a problem that will continue to play itself out in 2017. The result will be very strong price growth for all home types again this year.”

Here are the actual numbers: Total Active Listings: 5,034. That’s a stunning 50% drop [OK…49.5%] versus last January’s 9,966 Total. And the MarketWatch report one year ago referenced “a persistent lack of inventory”.

Sold residential MLS® listings averaged 19 Days on the Market [“DOM”] in January. No shock by any stretch, that was “34.5% faster” than last January’s 29 days.

Update from the West...

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver also reported their January stats the other day: Overall, the number of sales was down 39.5% compared to January, 2016’s record number. And, while the number of new listings was down 6.8% year-over-year, new listings were up 215.5% versus December, 2016. As for prices, they appear to have begun to follow the drop in the number of sales: “The benchmark price for detached properties is $1,474,800. This represents a 6.6 per cent decline over the last six months and a 0.6 per cent decrease compared to December 2016.” You can decipher the report here. According to The Globe and Mail, “The average price for detached properties sold in the region tumbled to $1.5-million last month, a 17.8-per-cent decrease from the record high of $1.83-million in January, 2016.”

Don’t hesitate to drop a line anytime if you’d like an update of market activity in your neighbourhood - or another neighbourhood that’s of interest to you…near or far.

Similarly, we’re familiar with pockets of Bungalows around the GTA: We’d love to chat over a coffee if it’s something you’re mulling… Again, don’t hesitate to drop us a line…

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