In April 2016, there were 12,085 home sales recorded through the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB)’s MLS System, which is a new record for the month. This result is a 7.4 per cent increase compared to April 2015.
Across the entire TREB market area, all major home types except semi-detached houses experienced annual sales growth. In the City of Toronto, sales declined year-over-year in detached houses, semi-detached houses and townhouses, mostly due to a lack of listings in the low-rise category. According to the TREB, this caused many potential homebuyers to be unable to find a home that met their needs.
“Demand remained strong for all types of ownership housing. This suggests that Canadians continue to see the value in investing in home ownership,” said TREB president Mark McLean in a press release.
“While April’s sales result represented a new record for sales, that number could have been even higher if we had benefitted from more supply,” he added. “In the City of Toronto in particular, some households have chosen not to list their home for sale because of the second substantial Land Transfer Tax and associated administration fee. The lack of available inventory, coupled with record sales, continued to translate into robust annual rates of price growth.”
April also saw home selling prices continue to trend upward. The MLS Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark increased 12.6 per cent year-over-year, while the average selling price of a home grew by 16.2 per cent. The higher growth rate for the average home price compared to the HPI indicates there were more high-end home sales this year compared to April 2015.
“As we move into the busiest time of the year, in terms of sales volume, strong competition between buyers will continue to push home prices higher,” said Jason Mercer, TREB director of market analysis. “A greater supply of listings would certainly be welcome, but we would need to see a number of consecutive months in which listings growth outpaced sales growth before market conditions become more balanced.”
