Close X
Monday, November 25, 2024
ADVT 
National

Toronto Area's Home Sales, Average Prices Hit Record Highs In August

The Canadian Press, 07 Sep, 2016 11:47 AM
    TORONTO — Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area hit a record last month as fewer homeowners put their properties up for sale, the city's real estate board said Wednesday.
     
    The Toronto Real Estate Board said its members had 9,813 sales in August, a 23.5 per cent increase from the same month last year, though there were two more working days this year.
     
    Still, even adjusting for an equal number of days, last month's sales volume in the GTA was up about 13 per cent from August 2015.
     
    Jason Mercer, the director of market analysis at TREB, says dwindling inventory has been one of the main reasons why prices for single-family homes have been soaring in Toronto over the past year.
     
    "If you're looking to purchase a single or a semi or a townhome, it's really difficult in a lot of neighbourhoods to find a home that meets your needs," said Mercer.
     
    "Whenever you have a situation like that you're going to have strong upward pressure on prices."
     
    The average price for homes sold, regardless of type of property, was $710,410, an increase of 17.7 per cent. Detached homes in the city of Toronto proper cost on average $1.2 million, up 18.3 per cent.
     
     
    The data comes amid concerns that Vancouver's new 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers could send investors to Toronto, driving up prices in a market that's already scorching.
     
    But experts say it's too soon to tell whether Vancouver's tax, which was introduced on Aug. 2, is having any impact on Toronto's real estate market.
     
    "I think it's definitely too soon to jump to a conclusion because we don't have the numbers on what foreign ownership is like," said Shawn Zigelstein, a Toronto-based realtor with Royal LePage Your Community Realty.
     
    Zigelstein says three or four months' worth of sales figures and data on the rate of foreign ownership are needed before the impact of the new tax can be discerned.
     
    When asked whether he would consider introducing measures to cool Toronto's housing market, Mayor John Tory emphasized the importance of taking a wait-and-see approach.
     
    "Either me or the provincial government could step up and do something to try and earn political points by having people think we've done something to increase affordability of housing in Toronto," Tory said during a news conference Wednesday.
     
     
    "I just want to make sure that anything we do is actually going to have a real, positive impact that isn't going to be about show business and politics. People want real solutions, not solutions that make them feel better for 20 minutes. ... This is a marketplace you're dealing with. It's very complicated. And I think anybody who thinks they have an easy answer is fooling the public and fooling themselves."
     
    In Vancouver, sales dropped 26 per cent in August compared to a year ago, although prices continued to rise. The benchmark price for all residential properties in Vancouver climbed 31.4 per cent from a year ago to $933,100.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    New Brunswick Sex-Abuse Ruling Sets Record As More Victims Sue Their Tormentors

    New Brunswick Sex-Abuse Ruling Sets Record As More Victims Sue Their Tormentors
    A 52-year-old woman was awarded $188,914 by the Court of Queen's Bench, including $125,000 for pain and suffering.

    New Brunswick Sex-Abuse Ruling Sets Record As More Victims Sue Their Tormentors

    Punjabi Is Now The Third Language In Parliament Of Canada

    Punjabi Is Now The Third Language In Parliament Of Canada
    According to Statistics Canada’s 2011 National Household Survey, 430,705 Canadians identified Punjabi as their mother tongue, making it the third most common language after English and French

    Punjabi Is Now The Third Language In Parliament Of Canada

    Thieves Use Chainsaws To Down Power Poles In Surrey And Strip Copper: BC Hydro

    Thieves Use Chainsaws To Down Power Poles In Surrey And Strip Copper: BC Hydro
    Hydro said the two poles were located on separate properties and their transformers were stripped of copper.

    Thieves Use Chainsaws To Down Power Poles In Surrey And Strip Copper: BC Hydro

    B.C. Campaign Against Overdose Deaths Ramps Up On Overdose Awareness Day

    British Columbia's joint task force examining the drug overdose crisis says International Overdose Awareness Day has never been more relevant.

    B.C. Campaign Against Overdose Deaths Ramps Up On Overdose Awareness Day

    CBC to stop playing ads on Radio 2 and ICI Musique after CRTC decision

    CBC to stop playing ads on Radio 2 and ICI Musique after CRTC decision
    TORONTO — The CBC will not be permitted to play paid advertisements on two of its radio networks as of Thursday.

    CBC to stop playing ads on Radio 2 and ICI Musique after CRTC decision

    Canadian And His Wife, Hostages In Afghanistan, Plead For Lives In Video

    Canadian And His Wife, Hostages In Afghanistan, Plead For Lives In Video
    In the video, Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman sombrely warn they will be killed by their captors unless Kabul abandons its policy of executing captured prisoners.

    Canadian And His Wife, Hostages In Afghanistan, Plead For Lives In Video