New single-family home sales in the GTA pick up in February

Toronto, March 26, 2019 – In February, the GTA new home market saw the highest number of single-family homes sold since April 2017, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced today.

There were 639 new single-family homes sold in February, including detached, linked and semi-detached houses and townhouses, according to Altus Group*, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence. This was up 147 per cent from last February, though still 50 per cent below the ten-year average. Sales of new condominium apartments in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, with 772 units sold, were down 58 per cent from February 2018 and down 51 per cent from the ten-year average.

“Softer new condominium apartment sales in February can, at least in part, be attributed to the rapid increase in prices in the past two years, which has priced many would-be buyers out of the market,” said Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s Executive Vice President, Data Solutions. “The good news is that, although still relatively low in historical terms, there is now more inventory available to purchase and this is curbing the upward pressure on prices.”

Remaining inventory in February included 11,269 condominium apartment units and 5,233 single family lots. Remaining inventory includes units in preconstruction projects, in projects currently under construction and in completed buildings.

The benchmark prices of both single-family homes and condominium apartments moderated slightly compared to the previous month. The benchmark price of new single-family homes was $1,122,682, down eight per cent over the last 12 months, while the benchmark price of new condominium apartments was $792,709, up 8.6 per cent over the last 12 months.

“We are hopeful that the measures introduced last week in the federal budget will enable more first-time home buyers to enter the market and purchase the type of home they want,” said President & CEO David Wilkes. “However, these measures are only the first step and BILD will continue to advocate for a review of the mortgage stress test so more first-time home buyers can realize the dream of home ownership.”

Mr. Wilkes added that the GTA is still grappling with challenges around supply. “BILD is continuing to call on the provincial government and municipal governments to take the steps necessary to facilitate additional housing supply to meet the growing need across the GTA,” he said.

February New Home Sales by Municipality: **

Source: Altus Group

Source: BILDGTA.ca