The first month of the new year was a notably busy time for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) new home market, as over 1,500 new single-family homes were sold, according to the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).
In January, 1,506 single-family homes, which includes detached, semi-detached, and townhouses, were sold in the Toronto area, marking the highest number for that month since 2006, said BILD.
Sales of single-family homes were up 51% from last January and up 66% from the 10-year average.
In total, there were 2,171 new homes sold in January, which was up 4% y-o-y and 19% above the 10-year average, according to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence.
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The Durham Region accounted for the most single-family home sales, with 683 transactions. This was followed by York Region (534), Halton (136), Peel (130), and Toronto (16), according to the latest data.
The benchmark price for new single-family homes sold in January reached $1,362,952, up 24.2% over the last 12 months.
“The 2021 new home market has started the year where it left off in 2020, with strong demand continuing for single-family homes and fewer new condominium apartment openings," said Ryan Wyse, Altus Group’s Manager, Analytics, Data Solutions.
Wyse said the lack of new condominium apartment openings impacted the overall sales volumes of this segment.
As for condominium apartments, including units in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, they accounted for 665 sales in January, down 39% y-o-y and 28% below the 10-year average.
Toronto recorded the highest number of new condominium apartment sales with 367 transactions. This was followed by Halton Region (94), York Region (90), Peel (75), and Durham (39).
Condo prices also increased in January, with the benchmark price for new condominium apartments reaching $1,021,017, a 10.4% increase over the last 12 months.
With few projects launching in January, which is common for this time of year, remaining inventory decreased compared to the previous month, to 12,774 units. The remaining inventory includes units in preconstruction projects, in projects currently under construction, and in completed buildings.
“Between the effects of the pandemic and the typical seasonal slow-down of new product launches, January’s remaining inventory was the lowest we’ve seen since January 2018,” said Dave Wilkes, BILD President & CEO.
“Though much remains uncertain with the pandemic, industry and government must stay focused on increasing housing supply to bring balance to the GTA housing market,” said Wilkes.
