The cost to build a new home in the GTA has now surpassed $1 million

Just a few weeks ago, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported that overall national home sales decreased since December. But at the same time, Toronto’s housing prices continued climbing.

And climb they did.

The average price of available new single-family ground-oriented homes in the GTA has now surpassed $1 million, according to the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).

In January, the average price of new single-family low-rise homes, which includes detached, semi-detached, row and townhomes, increased by 25% since last year, to a new record of $1,028,395.

Ten years ago the average price was just $444,368.

And the average price of a new GTA townhouse found its way up to $879,619 last month compared to $328,989 in January 2007, stated the BILD.

“The GTA is facing a severe shortage of housing supply, particularly for single-family homes which sell as soon as they come to market,” said BILD President and CEO Bryan Tuckey in a release. “When there aren’t enough homes to satisfy demand, prices increase and that is exactly what has been happening in our region over the last decade.”

The end of January saw a near record low for new ground-oriented homes, with just 1,524 new homes available for purchase. In 2007, there were 18,400. Moreover, new detached homes declined to 534, the lowest ever recorded in the GTA, and significantly lower than 10 years ago when there were 12,242.

Overall there were 13,053 new homes in builders’ inventories across the region in January compared to 31,461 a decade ago, according to the BILD.

“Today in the GTA there are less than half the overall number of new homes available to purchase than there were a decade ago,” Tuckey said. “Lack of serviced developable land, excessive red tape and frequent delays in the development approval process have all been large contributors to our housing supply crisis.”

In other real estate news, Drake’s house is looking great in the Bridle Path. Bet it’s just a couple of mil above that GTA average…

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