After the then Kathleen Wynne-led Ontario Liberal government announced its Fair Housing Plan last spring, experts noted would-be buyers were stepping to the sidelines amid uncertainty.

The plan did include a contentious foreign-homebuyer tax, after all, and it was believed some buyers wanted to wait and see how the effects of the levy panned out before committing to a property purchase. The Toronto Real Estate Board suggests all that’s been changing this summer, a little over a year after the provincial policy was first introduced.

“We have certainly experienced an increase in demand for ownership housing so far this summer. It appears that some people who initially moved to the sidelines due to the psychological impact of the Fair Housing Plan and changes to mortgage lending guidelines have re-entered the market,” says Jason Mercer, TREB’s director of market analysis, in a news release.

“Home buyers in the GTA recognize that ownership housing is a quality long-term investment,” he adds. The comments from TREB came along with the publication of July sales data for the Greater Toronto Area. The numbers, released Aug. 3, showed both the number of transactions and average sales price were up from a year ago. In total, 6,961 homes changes hands this July, an increase of 18.6 per cent from the same month last year. Meantime, the average price was $782,129, up 4.8 per cent.

“Home sales result in substantial spin-off benefits to the economy, so the positive results over the last two months are encouraging. However, no one will argue that housing supply remains an issue. The new provincial government and candidates for the upcoming municipal elections need to concentrate on policies focused on enhancing the supply of housing and reducing the upfront tax burden represented by land transfer taxes, province-wide and additionally in the City of Toronto,” said TREB President Garry Bhaura in the news release.

Toronto’s condo market has continued to be resilient throughout the market slowdown, in part because high-rise units are the only affordable option for many buyers in the city. Condos in the 416 sold in July for an average of $582,547, up 9.2 per cent on a year-over-year basis. Gains in the suburban 905 area occurred at a similar rate, with the average condo price surging 10.2 per cent annual to $461,255.

While the Fair Housing Plan appears to have most impacted the low-rise market, last month the detached segment posted “modest” price growth as well, TREB points out. In Toronto proper, the average price in July for a detached dwelling was $1,350,700, representing an annual increase of 3.6 per cent. The average price for this type of housing in the suburban 905 area was nearly unchanged from a year ago sitting at $907,347.