Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) increased 8.5 per cent year-over-year to 6,839 units in August 2018, reports the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).
The average selling price also increased last month, climbing 4.7 per cent on an annual basis to $765,270, while the MLS Home Price Index Composite Benchmark for August 2018 increased by 1.5 per cent. The average selling price increased by a larger percentage at least partly due to a change in the mix of sales, compared to 2017. Detached home sales increased by double digits on a year-over-year percentage basis, which is substantially more than many other less expensive home types.
“It is encouraging to see a continued resurgence in the demand for ownership housing,” said Garry Bhaura, TREB president, in a press release. “Many home buyers who had initially moved to the sidelines due to the Ontario Fair Housing Plan and new mortgage lending guidelines have renewed their search for a home and are getting deals done much more so than last year. In a region where the economy remains strong and the population continues to grow, ownership housing remains a solid long-term investment.”
Month-over-month sales and price growth also continued in August 2018. On a preliminary seasonally adjusted basis, August 2018 sales climbed two per cent, compared to July 2018. The seasonally adjusted August 2018 average selling price fell by 0.2 per cent month-over-month, following strong monthly increases in May, June and July.
“Market conditions in the summer of 2018, including this past August, were tighter than what was experienced in the summer of 2017,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s director of market analysis. “In August, the annual rate of sales growth outpaced the annual rate of new listings growth. We only have slightly more than two-and-a-half months of inventory in the TREB market area as a whole and less than two months of inventory in the City of Toronto. This means that despite the fact that sales remain off the record highs from 2016 and 2017, many GTA neighbourhoods continue to suffer from a lack of inventory. This could present a problem if demand continues to accelerate over the next year, which is expected.”
