Toronto's unattainable housing market might actually be cooling off
April brought about the end of winter cold, and that rise in air temperature was accompanied by a cooling of the absolutely bonkers Greater Toronto Area (GTA) housing market.
The arrival of spring saw the market slow down from breakneck speeds as the number of homes sold in the region plummeted in April 2022, at least when compared to the pace set the previous April.
The Building Industry and Land Development (BILD) Association announced the latest market figures on Wednesday morning, revealing that the 3,645 units sold in the region last month marked a 29 per cent decline from April 2021.
While the drop is substantial, it's worth noting that it was still six per cent higher than the ten-year average in home sales for April, while the previous year came with post-lockdown spikes in home sales.
Sales declines hit the single-family home market hard, with 571 detached, linked, and semi-detached houses and townhouses sold in April, a 47 per cent fall from last year and a worrying dip to 54 per cent below the ten-year average.
But most of the sales activity is occurring in the condominium market, where the 3,074 units sold in April represent a 24 per cent year-over-year decline, though sales were still a healthy 40 per cent above the ten-year average.
Despite the drop, 2022 month was still the fourth-strongest for condo sales in April during the more than 20 years Altus Group has tracked this data.
"New condominium apartment sales are down from last year, but would have been viewed as robust in the pre-COVID world," said Edward Jegg, Altus Group's Analytics Research Manager.
Cooling off, sure, but that doesn't mean housing is becoming more attainable in the region. In fact, just the opposite is occurring.
If you were hoping for a price correction, keep dreaming, as the benchmark price for new single-family homes jumped more than 28 per cent in the last year to $1,787,186, while condos climbed 12 per cent to $1,189,134.
There could be more trouble for housing prices on the horizon, according to Dave Wilkes, BILD President & CEO, who states that "the unpredictability in construction costs, the supply chain disruptions and the strikes our industry is currently experiencing are expected to impact housing supply in the GTA in the coming months."
Jack Landau
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