There were 5,974 condominium apartment sales reported through the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB)’s MLS System during the first quarter of 2016, which is a 21.2 per cent increase compared to the first quarter or 2015. About 70 per cent of these transactions, or 4,131 sales, occurred in the City of Toronto.

Meanwhile, there were 11,112 new condominium apartment listings entered into TREB’s MLS system in Q1 of 2016, which is a 1.7 per cent drop compared to the same period in 2015.

“It is clear that the demand for condominium apartments more than kept up with the supply of listings in the first quarter of this year,” said Mark McLean, TREB president, in a press release. “This housing type is an important entry point into home ownership for a lot of GTA households, particularly in the City of Toronto. Recent polling undertaken for TREB by Ipsos suggested that approximately half of home purchases made in the GTA this year would be accounted for by first-time buyers.”

The average price for a condominium apartment was $393,589 in the first quarter, an 8.1 per cent increase compared to Q1 2015. In addition, the MLS Home Price Index benchmark price for apartments grew 7.1 per cent year-over-year at the end of March.

“While the condominium apartment market segment remains the best supplied in the GTA, market conditions have tightened considerably since the first quarter of 2015,” said TREB director of Market Analysis, Jason Mercer. “Not surprisingly, the pace of year-over-year price growth has accelerated over the same period of time.”