Single-family home sales in the GTA just hit an all-time low
Single-family home sales in the Greater Toronto Area hit an all-time low in July as benchmark prices swelled and inventories dried up.
According to a new report from the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), just 97 single-family homes were sold in the region last month.
The figure, courtesy of data from Altus Group, represents an 88% annual decline and is 88% below the 10-year average. Year-to-date, sales are down 64% compared to July 2021.
It’s the first time that monthly sales of new single-family homes, which include detached, linked, and semi-detached houses, as well as townhouses, fell below 100 since tracking began in 2000.
Despite the drastic decline in sales, the benchmark price for new single-family homes in the GTA increased 27.4% year-over-year in July to $1,933,912.
Conversely, sales of new condominium apartments — units in low, medium, and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses, and loft units — were “strong” across the GTA in July.
A total of 1,777 condo apartments were sold in the region, a 5% increase from July 2021 and 3% above the 10-year average. The benchmark price for new condo apartments was $1,191,716, a 9.2% annual increase.
Overall, total new home sales in the GTA were down 26% annually in July and were 25% below the 10-year average. The majority of single-family sales occurred in Durham Region, while Toronto saw the most condo sales in the GTA last month.
“Buoyed buyer resiliency” and “stable prices” aided the condo market in July, while “slowing demand” and a “shortage of inventory” plagued single-family sales, according to Edward Jegg, research manager at Altus Group,
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Between June and July, the total new home remaining inventory dropped to 10,848 units, more than 9,000 of which are condos.
The GTA has just 3.4 months of condo inventory and 2.4 months of single-family inventory; a balanced market would hold between nine and 12 months of inventory.
Ahead of October’s municipal election, Dave Wilkes, BILD president & CEO, urged residents to press candidates for “concrete steps to address the housing challenge.”
“The long-term demand for new homes is not going anywhere, despite short-term market trends,” Wilkes said.
“We have a monumental challenge ahead of us: to build the 1.5 million new homes Ontario needs to address the housing crisis, which is centred on the GTA.”