Toronto's housing prices expected to accelerate further this year: TREB

Jan 7 2020, 5:22 pm

Expect further acceleration when it comes to Toronto’s housing prices in 2020.

This is the prediction contained within the latest report from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).

Home sales in the GTA were up by 17.4% year-over-year in December 2019, with the sales up by 12.6% reported in 2018.

“We certainly saw a recovery in sales activity in 2019, particularly in the second half of the year,” said TREB president Michael Collins. “As anticipated, many home buyers who were initially on the sidelines moved back into the market place starting in the spring. Buyer confidence was buoyed by a strong regional economy and declining contract mortgage rates over the course of the year.”

While sales were up in 2019, TREB said that the number of new listings was down by 2.4% year-over-year.

Yet for the past decade, as annual new listings stayed between 150,000 and 160,000, home prices continued to rise.

TREB

“Over the last ten years, TREB has been drawing attention to the housing supply issue in the GTA,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s chief market analyst. “Increasingly, policy makers, research groups of varying scope, and other interested parties have acknowledged that the lack of a diverse supply of ownership and rental housing continues to hamper housing affordability in the GTA.”

Mercer said that last year, the GTA saw an increase in sales within the tight supply, which caused prices to rise.

“Taking 2019 as an example, we experienced a strong sales increase up against a decline in supply. Tighter market conditions translated into accelerating price growth. Expect further acceleration in 2020 if there is no relief on the supply front,” he said.

The average price of a home in Toronto is now listed at $885,132.

TREB

According to TREB, for the 2019 calendar year, the average selling price was $819,319 – up by 4% compared to $787,856 in 2018.

TREB

DH Toronto StaffDH Toronto Staff

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