Toronto & GTA MLS® Home Sales - July, 2017: Sales off Sharply YoY

Toronto, Ontario, August 3, 2017 - The Toronto Real Estate Board released it’s monthly MarketWatch statistical report today which showed that Toronto & GTA Realtors® reported 5,921 residential sales through TREB’s MLS® system in July, another sharp drop of 40.4% in sales on the heels of June’s 37.3% year-over-year plunge. All figures are year-over-year comparisons unless otherwise noted. Chart - Toronto & GTA Home Sales & Average Price by Major Home Type 2017-07

Despite the drop in sales volume, prices were up across the area - particularly for Condo Apartments and Freehold Townhomes. Total Active Listings were also up strongly again, +65.3% to 18,751 versus last July’s 11,346.

In Metropolitan Toronto - the 416 area code - 556 Detached homes were sold, down 41.7%, at an average selling price of $1,304,288, up 8.5%. In “The 905” - the balance of the Greater Toronto Area - 1,878 Detached homes sold, down a stunning 48.9%, at an average sale price of $910,348, up 2.4%.

It stands to reason that, with the large drop in the volume of sales and the massive run-up in inventory levels, prices should begin to recede at some point. Chart - Toronto & GTA Home Sales Year-Over-Year Summary @ 2017-07.png

The number of sales of Condo Apartment also fell hard again, but they held their own better than the Freehold homes and managed a very strong performance on the sale price front despite that volume drop. Toronto Condo Apartment MLS sales fell 28.3% to 1,345 in July, but average sale prices jumped 24.6% to $532,502. In the rest of the GTA, 495 were sold, down 36.5%, at an average of $418,191, up 16.6%.

John DiMichele, TREB’s Chief Executive Officer, said in the report, “Summer market statistics are often not Chart - Toronto & GTA Home Sales Historic Annual Stats to 2017-07.png the best indicators of housing market conditions. We generally see an uptick in sales following Labour Day, as a greater cross-section of would-be buyers and sellers start to consider listing and/or purchasing a home. As we move through the fall, we should start to get a better sense of the impacts of the Fair Housing Plan and higher borrowing costs.”

“A recent release from the Ontario government confirmed TREB’s own research which found that foreign buyers represented a small proportion of overall home buying activity in the GTA. Clearly, the year-over-year decline we experienced in July had more to do with psychology, with would-be home buyers on the sidelines waiting to see how market conditions evolve,” offered TREB President Tim Syrianos.

And TREB’s Director of Market Analysis, Jason Mercer added, “Home buyers benefitted from more choice in the market this July compared to the same time last year. This was reflected in home prices and home price growth. Looking forward, if we do see some would-be home buyers move off the sidelines and back into the market without a similar increase in new listings, we could see some of this newfound choice erode. The recent changes in the sales and price trends have masked the fact that housing supply remains an issue in the GTA.”

It took considerably longer - “31.3% longer” in percentage terms - to sell the average residential property on TREB’s MLS System in July…though at 21 Days on Market [versus last July’s 16 days], it’s still very quick by historical standards. We’ll see what the coming months bring…

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