Number of new home listings in the GTA hits a 10-year-low

Low inventory levels have plagued the GTA real estate market over the past year, fuelling stiff competition and bidding wars, and now the level of new listings coming on the market is getting even lower.

A new report from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) found that market conditions are continuing to tighten in the GTA, with the number of new listings hitting a 10-year low in August.

“The fact that new listings were at the lowest level for the past decade is alarming,” said TRREB President Kevin Crigger. “It is clear that the supply of homes is not keeping pace with demand, and this situation will become worse once immigration into Canada resumes.”

TRREB

And as the number of new listings dropped, it sustained competition between buyers, and selling prices continued to rise. The August 2021 average home price hit $1,070,911 — a 12.6% increase year-over-year.

“Sales have accounted for a much higher share of new listings this year compared to last, and the story was no different in August,” said TRREB Chief Market Analyst Jason Mercer. “There has been no relief on the supply side for home buyers, in fact, competition between these buyers have increased.”

TRREB

The average selling price in the York Region was the highest in all of the GTA, coming in at $1,290,651, followed by the Halton Region at $1,206,016 and Toronto at $1,000,008.

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According to Mercer, buyers shouldn’t expect things to get better any time soon.

“As we move toward 2022, expect market conditions to become tighter as population growth in the GTA starts to trend back to pre-COVID levels,” he said.

With the federal election coming up, and skyrocketing home prices affecting much of Canada, Crigger says housing affordability will be a major issue, with low inventory levels needing to be addressed.

“The federal parties vying for office in the upcoming federal election have all made housing supply and affordability a focal point,” Crigger said. “Working with provincial and municipal levels of government on solving supply-related issues is much more important to affordability than interfering with consumer choice during the home buying and selling offer process or revisiting demand-side policies that will at best have a short-term impact on market conditions.”