The resiliency of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) housing market continued in February, as new home sales were strong last month after more than 3,200 units were sold.
This number is still below the record-setting pre-pandemic performance of February 2020, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) said Monday.
During a typically slower period, February saw a total of 3,240 new homes sold -- while 9% above the 10-year average, this is still 34% below February 2020, according to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence.
Sales of new single-family homes -- including detached, linked, and semi-detached houses and townhouses (excluding stacked townhouses) -- accounted for 1,617 units sold, down 30% from last February but still 20% above the 10-year average.
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Last month, the York Region accounted for the most single-family new home sales, with 665 units sold. This was followed by Durham (457), Peel (335), Halton (83), and Toronto (77).
In February, the benchmark price for new single-family homes was $1,373,473, up 25.1% over the last 12 months.
When comparing February of this year to last, Dave Wilkes, BILD president and CEO says, "we need to be careful," as February 2020 was an exceptionally busy month and was just before the pandemic hit.
“We are talking about completely different sets of circumstances. The fact is that February 2021 was a solid month when compared with the 10-year average.”
When looking at the condo market, condominium apartments, including units in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, accounted for 1,623 new home sales in February, down 38% from February 2020 and even with the 10-year average.
While Toronto recorded the lowest new single-family homes sold, Canada's largest city accounted for the most condominium apartments sold with 788 transactions. This was followed by Halton (399), York (271), Peel (110), and Durham (55).
The benchmark price for new condominium apartments reached $1,042,064 last month -- up 8.4% over the last 12 months.
“Sales in the new condominium apartment sector in the GTA returned to a more typical level in February,” said Ryan Wyse, Altus Group’s Manager, Analytics, Data Solutions.
“With additional new supply on the horizon, the spring market will likely yield its usual increase in activity; however, economic challenges related to the pandemic remain and will continue to provide some obstacles in the near term.”
With few projects launching in February, the remaining inventory decreased compared to the previous month, to 12,095 units -- marking the lowest level of remaining inventory since December 2017. The remaining inventory includes units in preconstruction projects, in projects currently under construction, and in completed buildings.
“The demand for new homes in the GTA continues strong, but bringing enough homes to market continues to be a challenge for our industry, given the impacts of the pandemic, ongoing union membership disputes and materials shortages,” said Wilkes.
“We all need to work together to ensure we can deliver homes to the GTA families that are waiting for them,” added Wilkes.
