Toronto Real Estate Prices and Inventory Rise In April

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News

The Toronto Real Estate Board released their sales for April 2008.  It wasn't much of a surprise to see that sales declined 7% in April over the same time last year.  The average home price for the GTA in April was up 8% 5% over last year and the number of homes available for sale increased by 7%.

Correction(May 5, 2008): An astute reader pointed out that TREB made a mistake in their recent press release.  Prices in the GTA rose by 5% in April, not the reported 8%. 

It was interesting to see that sales in the City of Toronto were down 10% compared to a 5% slowdown in the 905 region.  It appears as though TREB is slowly building their case against the City of Toronto land transfer tax.

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Here are the latest numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board:

With 8,762 houses sold in the Greater Toronto Area, April’s resale housing activity was down seven per cent from the record 9,452 transactions from the same timeframe a year ago, Toronto Real Estate Board President Maureen O’Neill announced today.

“The market is showing signs for a healthy 2008 compared to the diminished activity we saw in the first quarter of the year,” said Ms. O’Neill. “We continue to experience a supply and demand situation and to-date, it remains a sellers market."

Sales activity however, was markedly different in the 416 and 905 regions. With 3,467 transactions in the City of Toronto, sales were down 10 per cent from a year ago. The 905 region was down five per cent from April 2007 sales, with 5,295 homes changing hands.

April’s GTA average price was $398,687, up eight per cent from the same period a year ago. In the City of Toronto, the average price was $446,781, up six per cent from last April. In the 905 region the average price increased five per cent compared to a year ago, to $367,196.

Several neighbourhoods experienced strong sales in April.

Scarborough East (E08) saw an eight per cent overall sales increase compared to April 2007, driven by robust detached home sales.

Caledon (W28) experienced a 15 per cent increase compared to the same timeframe a year ago as a result of strong condominium sales.

Condominium sales also drove Willowdale (C07) to a 32 per cent increase from a year ago.

In Thornhill sales increased eight per cent from last April due to strong detached home sales. “The number of listings on the Toronto Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service has increased to 24,539, up seven per cent from a year ago, which is good for homebuyers, who will find a greater range of options in the market,” said Ms. O’Neill. “With prices continuing to appreciate and increased listing inventory there are favourable factors in today’s market for consumers.”

John Pasalis is a sales associate at Prudential Properties Plus in Toronto and a founder of Realosophy. Email John

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Comments

[CinToronto]

Hello John: I don't know if TREB will correct their error, but the price increase over last year in GTA as a whole is only 5%. They should have been able to catch this because they note that the City of Toronto rose by 6% while the 905 rose by 5%.

[John Pasalis]

Thanks CinToronto, I updated the post.

[Rob M]

>>It appears as though TREB is slowly building their case against the City of Toronto land transfer tax.

If this is the case, this is TREB playing politics and obscuring the reality of a softening market - Miller is an easy target on the tax. They've been doing a lot of it lately. The words 'balanced' and 'cooling' speak much to the backpedaling.

The real estate bears could, with equal or greater accuracy, say that more people are giving upon on the 416 due to overall affordability [where prop tax is just a small component] and heading back to the 905.

April's numbers weren't definitive either way but there was some pent up winter buyers waiting to get out there owing to weather and still low mortgage rates. I think once the spring buying season is done, we'll see a new market that will show just how strong things are. On deck, coming concerns over a lot more credit crunching to come -- the no money down, 40yr buyers and speculators will evaporate. Cost of borrowing is already showing up on the banking side in the US ...

There is a definite split among people out there but this time there are some very real economic indicators to be concerned about, it just hasn't filtered down to the heavily leveraged among us just yet.

Thin edge of the wedge? we'll see.