Toronto, Canada (TREB) – The first quarter of 2011 ended strongly for the existing home market in the Greater Toronto Area. Resale transactions reported through the TorontoMLS® system in March amounted to 9,262 – the second strongest March on record behind March 2010. There were 19,610 sales reported during the first quarter, representing a 12.5 per cent dip compared to the record pace experienced during the first three months of 2010.

I asked Jason Mercer, the Toronto Real Estate Board’s (TREB’s) Senior Manager of Market Analysis, to provide some context for the sales figures reported so far this year. He provided both a historical back-drop and a forward looking view: “This year’s first quarter result was slightly higher than the average for the last five years and was in line with TREB’s forecast sales range for 2011. At the beginning of this year, our forecast range for sales through the TorontoMLS® was between 80,000 and 85,000. The actual first quarter result supports this forecast, so we will be making very little if any adjustment to our outlook on sales,” said Mercer.

The average price for March 2011 transactions was $456,147, representing a five per cent increase compared to the average of $434,696 reported in March of 2010. Price growth through the first three months of the year was quite uniform, ranging between four and little over five per cent. I asked Jason Mercer to provide his view on the pace of price growth so far this year.

“The annual rate of price growth in the first quarter was at the upper end of TREB’s forecast range of between three and five per cent. We have not seen as many new listings as expected so far this year. In March, for example, new listings were down by 19 per cent compared to March 2010. This means that market conditions have tightened up and there is more competition between buyers. The result has been continued price growth,” said Mercer.

When considering housing market conditions in the GTA, I think it is also important to break things down in terms of geography and home type. First off, home buyers in the GTA benefit from a great diversity of home types. In the first quarter, a substantial share of home sales was accounted for by the four major home types: single-detached and semi-detached houses, townhomes and condominium apartments. Low-rise home types accounted for approximately three-quarters of total sales, with condominium apartments accounting for the other 25 per cent. Average sale prices ranged between approximately $320,000 for condominium apartments through to approximately 570,000 for single-detached homes.

It is interesting to note, however, that when we break sales down by geography the mix of home types sold can vary quite a bit. In the City of Toronto, 45 per cent of total sales were accounted for by condominium apartments. The regions surrounding the City of Toronto have a much greater share of low-rise sales along with some denser nodes of condominium apartment sales in parts of Peel and York regions.

The existing home market remains on a healthy footing in the GTA. Sales levels remain strong from a historic perspective and the average selling price continues to grow at a strong, but sustainable pace. With the economic outlook continuing to improve, I expect this situation will continue moving forward.

Bill Johnston is President of the Toronto Real Estate Board, a professional association that represents 31,000 REALTORS® in the Greater Toronto Area. Continue reading →

Toronto, Canada (BILD) – Greater Toronto, April 19, 2011 – Healthy sales of new homes in March contributed to a solid first quarter performance for the new housing market in the Greater Toronto Area, the Building Industry & Land Development Association (BILD) revealed today.

According to RealNet Canada Inc., BILD’s official source of new home market intelligence, there were 3,434 new homes and condos sold in March 2011 and a total of 9,374 units sold from January to March, down 8.5 per cent year/year. The decline in total Q1 sales is fully attributable to weakness in the low-rise, 905 housing market, reflecting the very constrained low-rise land supply.

“Last year, we experienced the new home sales equivalent of March madness as 4,569 new homes were snapped up by homebuyers in a single month. The 3,434 new homes sales in March of this year, albeit down 25 per cent year/year, represents a healthy but much more stable level of activity,” said BILD President and CEO Stephen Dupuis.

“While the demand side remains strong, the interplay of factors like the HST and the new mortgage financing rules are certainly keeping the froth factor at bay as the new housing market moves into a state of sustainable equilibrium,” he added.

As for the first quarter as a whole, RealNet Canada President George Carras pointed out that high-rise sales held pace with Q1/2010 thanks in part to the $75,000 price differential compared with low-rise. The current high-rise price index sits at $446,965 compared with a staggering $522,034 for low-rise product.

“You can’t sell what you don’t have,” Carras explained, noting that as at March 31, 2011, there was only 5.5 months of supply of low-rise new homes. “Active new home inventories are well below the long-term average levels.”

Toronto, Canada (BILD) – Greater Toronto, March 22, 2011 – There were 2,202 new condominium suites sold in the Greater Toronto Area in February, marking the first time ever that sales have exceeded the 2,000 unit threshold in that particular month, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) revealed today.

According to RealNet Canada Inc., BILD’s official source of new home market intelligence, the 2,202 units sold represents the highest February total ever, 36 per cent better than 2010, and 26 per cent higher than the previous high-water mark set in February 2002, when 1,774 new condos were sold. Condo sales accounted for more than six out of every ten new home sales (61 per cent) in the GTA in February.

According to BILD President and CEO Stephen Dupuis, the strength of the new condo market in the GTA in February is a continuance of the factors that have propelled it thus far: the generally positive economic climate, particularly continued low interest rates; relative affordability (compared with low-rise homes); superlative building and suite designs; and great value in terms of building amenities and suite finishes.

Dupuis noted that the month of February was the second-worst on record for low-rise sales, better only than the global recession year of 2009, as higher prices caused by inventory shortages continue to compromise affordability.

“The relative un-affordability of low-rise product has caused a huge market shift towards high-rise condominiums, which is fine to a point, but only if steps are being taken to create a more balanced market over the mid- to long-term,” he stated.

Toronto, Canada (BILD) – Greater Toronto, January 20, 2011 – More than 20,000 new condominiums were sold by Greater Toronto Area homebuilders in 2010 as high-rise new home sales leaped 30 per cent over 2009, resulting in the second-best year ever for that product type, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) revealed today.

According to RealNet Canada Inc., there were 20,349 new high-rise condominium suites sold in 2010, second only to 2007 when an astonishing 22,408 high-rise condominiums were sold. From a market share perspective, high-rise sales did establish a new record, accounting for 55 per cent of all new home sales in 2010.

While the high-rise housing market was surging, sales of low-rise (single-detached, semi-detached and townhome) product were slipping by 10 per cent. Combining the two product types, total new home sales in 2010 reached 36,803 units, up a smart 8 per cent over 2009 despite a weaker than expected December.

BILD President and CEO Stephen Dupuis attributed the strength of the high-rise housing market in the GTA to its relative affordability (compared with low-rise), changing demographics and, to some degree, consumer preference, superlative locations, great building designs and a very high level of standard finishes (“jewel boxes” as one condo builder put it).

“Within the last decade, the share of the GTA housing market captured by high-rise condo developers has steadily risen from one quarter, which was considered normal, to a third, which was called the new normal, to more than 40 per cent (we called that The Year of the Condo), to the point today where more than half (55 per cent in 2010) of all new home sales annually are high-rise condos,” Dupuis stated.

“By historical standards, 2010 was a good, not great year, however the fact that the market exceeded all forecasts means that the industry was able to contribute its fair share, if not more, to economic growth, job creation and the tax coffers at all levels of government.”