It’s good news for thousands of agents in one of the country’s busiest markets – continued price appreciation and strong migration are expected to continue.
“Net migration into Ontario 100,000 annually, you’re looking at 30,000 households that need to be created in the GTA. That’s demand and rates are low,” Ron De Silva, CEO of RMAI Financial Group, told REP. “Other provinces are hurting but not Ontario and housing prices are going to continue to go up.”
That’s good news for GTA-based agents – who have up until now enjoyed a red-hot market driven by impressive price gains.
The Toronto Real Estate Board reported 7,621 transactions in February – a 21.1% year-over-year increase.
“Even after accounting for the leap year day, sales were above the previous record for February set back in 2010,” Mark McLean, president of TREB, said in a release. “Sales were up strongly from the 15th day of the month onward as well, despite the new federal mortgage lending guidelines coming into effect that require at least a 10 per cent down payment on the portion of purchase prices between $500,000 and $1,000,000.”
Toronto continues to favour sellers, according to TREB, as evidenced by the price gains. The average price for a home in the GTA jumped to $685,278 from $596,300 in 2014.
The 416, meanwhile, saw the average price increase to $719,843 from $630,855 last year.
“Recent polling conducted for TREB by Ipsos suggested that GTA households will remain upbeat about purchasing a home in 2016,” Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis, said. “Early sales results for January and February certainly support this view. With strong sales up against a constrained supply of listings, home prices continued to trend strongly upward.”