In 2017, the GTA new home market saw falling inventory, rising prices and strong sales, setting a record high in new condo apartment sales and a record low in single-family home sales, reports the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).
Last year, there were 44,143 new homes sold in the GTA, according to Altus Group, BILD’s source for new home market data. These results are the GTA’s fourth-strongest since 2000, when Altus Group began collecting data on the region. The largest number of home sales in one year was reported in 2002, with 53,660 units sold.
Of the new homes sold in 2017, 82.5 per cent, or 36,429 units, were condominium apartments in low, medium or high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, making 2017 the year with the highest number of condo units sold in the GTA. Meanwhile, the other 17.5 per cent were single-family home sales, including detached, link and semi-detached houses and townhouses, the lowest number of single-family homes sold since 2000.
“Low inventory and escalating prices across the board are behind the highs and lows of the sales numbers we saw in 2017,” said David Wilkes, BILD’s new president and CEO, in a press release. “Our industry wants to build new homes to increase the housing supply in the GTA, but we need municipalities to work with us to expedite the process by simplifying the development approval process, updating zoning by-laws to align with provincial policies, and servicing developable land with critical infrastructure.”
By the end of December 2017, there were 11,397 new homes available for purchase in builders’ inventories, a decline of 13.2 per cent from 13,136 at the end of December 2016 and 60.3 per cent fewer than the 28,739 new homes available 10 years ago.
Meanwhile, by the end of December 2017, there were 3,481 new single-family homes available for purchase, a drop of 74.4 per cent compared to 10 years ago.
In December 2017, the benchmark price for available new single-family homes climbed 23.2 per cent year-over-year to $1,225,744. Meanwhile, the benchmark price for available new condominium apartments in December 2017 increased by 41.3 per cent year-over-year to $716,772.
“While many end-user buyers have been looking to the new condominium apartment sector for more affordable homes, some are now starting to be priced out of this segment as well,” said Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s executive vice president of research consulting services.
Wilkes added that BILD will be raising the issues of housing supply and affordability as the municipal elections this fall approach. “We are calling on governments at all levels to ensure that people who choose to live in the GTA can afford to purchase a new home,” he said.
