Toronto’s Shortage Of Low-Rise Housing Propelled Further Price Growth In July 2016

Real Estate

Listings for detached and semi-detached houses and townhouses are still in extremely short supply, a troubling trend that continued to feed rapid price growth in July. The average price for all home types last month rose 16.6 per cent compared to July 2015 (detached homes alone saw a whopping 21.1 per cent price increase), while – over the same period – the number of new listings declined.

Here's the latest real estate press release from the Toronto Real Estate Board for July 2016:

 


 

August 4, 2016 — Toronto Real Estate Board President Larry Cerqua announced that TREB REALTOR® Members reported 9,989 home sales through TREB's MLS® System in July 2016. At just shy of 10,000 transactions, this was the best result on record for the month of July.

While sales were up on a year-over-year basis, the number of new listings was down over the same period, representing the continuation of a troubling trend in the GTA. “GTA REALTORS® have been working very hard on behalf of their buyer clients to help them find a home meeting their needs. Unfortunately, listings for single-detached and semi-detached houses and townhouses continue to be in short supply. The result has been an increase in pent-up demand and annual rates of price increases well above the rate of inflation. Housing policy is now top of mind for all levels of government. Policy makers need to be focusing on solutions to the sustained lack of low-rise inventory throughout the GTA,” said Mr. Cerqua.

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark was up by 16.7 per cent in July 2016 compared to the same month a year earlier. Similarly, the average selling price for all home types combined was up by 16.6 per cent year-over-year to $709,825.

“Relatively strong labour market conditions, above-inflation average income growth, and record low borrowing costs have kept many households confident about purchasing a home. As long as very strong buying intentions are up against an extreme shortage of listings, expect home price growth to greatly outpace the rate of inflation,” said Jason Mercer, TREB's Director of Market Analysis.

 


 

If you're curious to see the price and transaction breakdowns by housing type and geographical area, here's the complete set of July 2016 stats from TREB!

 

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