Demand for Toronto homes has plummeted but experts predict big changes
Whether renting or owning an apartment, condo or single-family house, living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) doesn’t come cheap, and the cost of calling Canada’s largest metropolitan area home is only growing.
It will now cost you close to $2 million to own the average single-family home in the region, according to the latest monthly report released by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) on Monday.
BILD reports a steep decline in new home sales in March, when only 1,277 homes were purchased region-wide. That marks a staggering 70% year-over-year decline, falling 65% below the 10-year average for March sales based on data from Altus Group.
Condominium apartments accounted for most of the inventory sold in March at just shy of 900 units, down 73% year-over-year and 63% below the 10-year average for the month. Only 384 single-family home sales were recorded last month, a 57% decline from last year and 67% below the 10-year average.
The lack of demand looks worrying on paper, but experts don’t appear overly concerned with the latest figures.
New home inventory sat just below 14,500 units in March, a decline from the previous month but a substantial increase over the record low seen in March 2022.
Inventory of condominium units has crossed into what experts consider the healthy range of nine to 12 months supply, with 10.5 months of inventory at the current rate of sales. The picture isn’t looking as rosy with single-family home supply, which sat at six months of inventory in March.
“Overall, the new home market remains poised for an upswing as inventory levels are robust and pricing crawls higher,” said Edward Jegg, a research manager with Altus Group.
Jegg adds that “with interest rates holding fast and the resale market strengthening, buyers have begun to re-emerge from the sidelines.”
This lack of supply likely contributed to a month-over-month rise in the benchmark price for new single-family homes, now reaching $1,799,971, though this figure still represents a decline of over 2% year-over-year.
Benchmark condo prices also saw a slight increase to almost $1.18 million in March, though that figure marks an even greater year-over-year decline of 10.8%.
“Sales of new homes may have been muted for the past few months due to short-term market conditions, but demand will inevitably return as GTA families resume looking for the homes they need,” said Dave Wilkes, BILD president & CEO.