Toronto condo prices continued to climb in the second quarter as sales relented from levels reached a year ago, according to a recent report.
The average price of a condo that changed hands in the GTA between the beginning of April and the end of June this year was $561,338, up 5.4 per cent from the same period in 2015, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board’s latest quarterly Condo Market Report. Meantime, sales totalled 6,837, a decline of 16.5 per cent.
“Condominium apartments have outperformed other housing types over the past year, in terms of price growth,” says TREB President Garry Bhaura in a news release. “It has been a seller’s market in many neighbourhoods for this home type, which is why we have continued to report average price growth more than twice the rate of inflation,” he notes.
The highest average price was achieved in Toronto proper, where it was $603,480, representing an increase of 6.5 per cent annually. Of all regions, Durham had the lowest average condo price: it was $400,182. The Durham figure is based on 137 transactions, the fewest recorded in any of the five regions, compared to the 4,906 observed in the City of Toronto.
“First time buyers continue to be a key driver of condominium apartment demand,” explains Jason Mercer, TREB’s director of market analysis, in the same news release. “The relative affordability of condos versus low-rise home types, especially with the onset of stricter mortgage qualification guidelines and generally higher borrowing costs, has also been a key factor underpinning tight condo market conditions and continued average price growth,” he adds. The Bank of Canada has hiked the overnight rate, which influences the mortgage market, twice this year.
The number of active listings on the market at the end of the second quarter was roughly unchanged from the previous year, while new listings posted during the three-month period were down 15.9 per cent from the same time in 2017. “The fact that sales and new listings were down by similar annual rates suggests that market conditions have remained similar over the past year, which has supported continued price growth,” TREB notes in the Condo Market Report.
On average, condo listings stayed on the market for 19 days this past quarter, up from 12 days in Q2 2017. That’s an increase of 58.3 per cent.
Photo credit: Loozrboy
