Let’s talk about June. The market delivered its third consecutive strong monthly performance. The big picture is simple, there were 8860 (+10.4%) sales in the GTA, that sold for an average price that was 3% higher than June 2018. This is pretty consistent with the trends for the first half of the year, which saw sales up 8.5% and the average selling price rose 2.4%.
For the first half of 2019, the number of property selling for over $1M in the GTA rose by 12% compared to the same period in 2018. In June, 9% more properties over $2M were reported sold, compared to last year. Oddly, the number of sales over $4M fell by 19%.
The market isn’t exactly cooling, so what happened? Well, it’s not that houses aren’t selling, it’s that many high-end properties are choosing to forgo listing on MLS in favour of private sales. This shift seems to have coincided with the change in TREB legislation that demands more sales information be made available to the public.
Zooming in a little, the average price in the City of Toronto price was $915,481,10% higher than in the GTA-at-large. About 50 percent of all property sales in Toronto are condos, with an average sale price of only $636,000 in June, so this is pretty astounding.
In Central Toronto*, the average sale price of detached homes declined by 5% to $2,283,469. Townhouses rose a staggering 24%. This can be attributed to higher demand from the group of buyers who have lowered their budgets to accommodate the mortgage stress tests. The condo market in Central Toronto was relatively flat, with a 2.4% price increase.
As we move into July we can expect sales to soften. If we assume the trend across April, May, and June will continue, the number of monthly 2019 sales will be ~10% higher than their 2018 counterpart, and average sale prices will increase YoY around 3%.
As always, if you have any questions about selling your home or buying your next one, I’m here to answer them.
