November was a month that came up short on supply.
The GTA saw a total of 7,090 home sales in November, that’s a 14% increase compared to November 2018. Sounds positive, right? Don’t be fooled. New listings were down 17.9% YoY and active listings were lower by 27.2%. Put these metrics together and we’ve got a recipe for price inflation.
Higher demand (from population growth and declining mortgage rates) and fewer listings serve to put upward pressure on prices. The average selling price for the month was $843,637, up 7.1 percent from last year. That’s the strongest year-over-year price increase in 2019. I expect prices to keep rising as the number of listings continues to dwindle.
In the GTA-at-large, detached home prices were up 3.5% to $1.04M. In Toronto, we saw a 4.9% price rise to $1.4M and in Central Toronto, prices were up a whopping 11.3% for an average sale price of $2.52M.
The condo sector told a different story with GTA-wide prices up 11.1%, while those in Central Toronto fell by 2.4% to $792,453. Central Toronto semi-detached properties also took a hit.
December will wind down slowly, as usual. The holiday season represents a great time to buy. Most sellers that list in December do so because they’re highly motivated to sell. With fewer buyers willing to brave the weather or invest the time to visit open houses, December is your best bet to score a deal and avoid bidding wars.
