August brought some positive movement for home sellers and agents in the Greater Toronto Area.
The Toronto Real Estate Board’s members sold 6,839 homes through the MLS, an 8.5% increase year-over-year with detached homes showing double-digit gains.
The renewed activity for detached resales meant a gain for both average selling price – up 4.7% y-o-y to $765,270 – and benchmark price (+1.5%).
"It is encouraging to see a continued resurgence in the demand for ownership housing. 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," said TREB president Garry Bhaura.
Monthly gains but inventory remains tight
August posted a 2% month-over-month gain in sales on a seasonally-adjusted basis while the average selling price was down 0.2% on that basis.
"Market conditions in the summer of 2018, including this past August, were tighter than what was experienced in the summer of 2017. In August, the annual rate of sales growth outpaced the annual rate of new listings growth. This could present a problem if demand continues to accelerate over the next year, which is expected," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Director of Market Analysis.