Prices across all types of new homes continue to set records in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as sales of new high-rise homes remain on pace for an exceptional year, says the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).
According to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence, this year has already seen a record 20,596 high-rise homes sold across the GTA. High-rise units account for nearly 60 per cent of the GTA’s total 34,736 new home sales as of the end of September. In the same period, there were a total of 14,140 low-rise homes sold.
The average price for both low-rise and high-rise homes continued to climb and set new records across the GTA. For new low-rise homes, including detached, semi-detached homes and townhomes, the average price has increased by over $60,000 in one month to reach a record $992,231 in September. This is 22 per cent higher than the average last year.
The average price of a new detached home rose to $1,194,771 in September, while the price of a new high-rise home in the GTA also broke records, climbing 10 per cent year-over-year to $486,605 in September.
“We have a serious housing supply challenge in the GTA due to a significant shortage of shovel-ready land and long and uncertain project approval timelines,” said Bryan Tuckey, BILD president and CEO, in a press release. “These factors are severely restricting the number of new homes being brought to market and are causing prices to surge month after month.”
The supply of new homes available for purchase dropped by more than 10,000 homes over the last year. There were 15, 421 new homes and condominiums available for purchase in September in the GTA, compared to the 25,848 available during the same time last year.
The supply of low-rise homes showed a slight increase month-over-month in September, but the 1,604 homes available still represented a 64 per cent decline compared to last year. The slight increase is due to a strong number of new project launches, which is a typical occurrence in September.
There were just 764 detached homes available for sale in the GTA during the third quarter, which is less than one month of supply, based on recent sales trends. Meanwhile, high-rise inventory in September was 13,817 homes, a slight decrease from August and 35 per cent less than September 2015.
“The recent increase in high-rise prices can be attributed to the rise in average suite size, combined with a growing price per square foot,” added Tuckey. “This year we have seen the introduction of larger suites aimed at purchasers who have been priced out of the low-rise market.”
The average size of a high-rise home in the GTA was 809 square feet in September, up from 767 square feet during the same period last year. The price per square foot also increased, up $26 from last year to $601.
September often features project launches for both low-rise and high-rise development. There were 2,468 high-rise units sold of September; 1,839 of those were in the City of Toronto.
Low-rise sales in September increased four per cent year-over-year to 1,200, with more than half of the sales occurring in York Region. So far in 2016, there have been 14,140 new low-rise home purchases in the GTA, eight per cent below the same period in 2015.
