According to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), Greater Toronto Area realtors reported 9,902 sales through the MLS System in September 2016, which is a 21.5 per cent increase compared to September 2015.

Across the entire GTA, strong annual rates of sales growth were experienced across all major home types. The pace of detached sales growth was slower in the city of Toronto and the number of semi-detached home sales declined compared to last year. In both cases, the year-over-year drop in new listings likely caused the issue.

“We continued to see strong demand for ownership housing up against a short supply of listings in the Greater Toronto Area in September,” said Larry Cerqua, TREB president, in a press release. “The sustained lack of inventory in many neighbourhoods across the GTA continued to underpin high rates of price growth for all home types.”

Both the MLS Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark and the average selling price for all home types combined showed strong year-over-year growth in September. The MLS HPI Composite Benchmark grew 18 per cent year-over-year, while the average selling price increased 20.4 per cent to $755,755.

“The Toronto Real Estate Board will be closely monitoring how the recent changes to the Federal mortgage lending guidelines and capital gains tax exemption rules impact the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area,” added Jason Mercer, TREB’s director of market analysis. “While these changes are pointed at the demand for ownership housing, it is important to note that much of the upward pressure on home prices in the GTA has been based on the declining inventory of homes available for sale.”