NEWS RELEASE



GTA REALTORS® Release July Resale Housing Market Figures

TORONTO, August 3, 2017 -- Toronto Real Estate Board President Tim Syrianos announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 5,921 residential transactions through TREB’s MLS® System in July 2017.  This result was down by 40.4 per cent on a year-over-year basis, led by the detached market segment – both in the City of Toronto and surrounding regions.

While sales were down, the number of new listings reported were only slightly (+5.1 per cent) above last year’s level.

“A recent release from the Ontario government confirmed TREB’s own research which found that foreign buyers represented a small proportion of overall home buying activity in the GTA.  Clearly, the year-over-year decline we experienced in July had more to do with psychology, with would-be home buyers on the sidelines waiting to see how market conditions evolve,” said Mr. Syrianos.

“Summer market statistics are often not the best indicators of housing market conditions.  We generally see an uptick in sales following Labour Day, as a greater cross-section of would-be buyers and sellers start to consider listing and/or purchasing a home.  As we move through the fall, we should start to get a better sense of the impacts of the Fair Housing Plan and higher borrowing costs,” said TREB CEO John DiMichele.

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark price was up by 18 per cent on a year-over-year basis.  However, the Composite Benchmark was down by 4.6 per cent relative to June.  Monthly MLS® HPI declines were driven more so by single-family home types.  The average selling price for all home types combined was up by five per cent year-over-year to $746,218.

“Home buyers benefitted from more choice in the market this July compared to the same time last year.  This was reflected in home prices and home price growth.  Looking forward, if we do see some would-be home buyers move off the sidelines and back into the market without a similar increase in new listings, we could see some of this newfound choice erode.  The recent changes in the sales and price trends have masked the fact that housing supply remains an issue in the GTA,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis.

 

Summary of TorontoMLS Sales and Average Price July 1 - 31, 2017

2017

2016

Sales

Average Price

New Listings

Sales

Average Price

New Listings

City of Toronto ("416")

2,303

759,441

4,499

3,485

690,597

4,859

Rest of GTA ("905")

3,618

737,801

9,672

6,444

721,218

8,623

GTA

5,921

746,218

14,171

9,929

710,471

13,482

 

TorontoMLS Sales & Average Price  By Home Type July 1 - 31, 2017

Sales

Average Price

416

905

Total

416

905

Total

Detached

556

1,878

2,434

1,304,288

910,348

1,000,336

Yr./Yr. % Change

-41.7%

-48.9%

-47.4%

8.5%

2.4%

4.9%

Semi-Detached

169

414

583

869,227

636,844

704,207

Yr./Yr. % Change

-39.9%

-38.1%

-38.6%

1.3%

8.0%

5.2%

Townhouse

212

762

974

707,269

581,541

608,907

Yr./Yr. % Change

-38.2%

-36.1%

-36.5%

20.7%

11.3%

13.5%

Condo Apartment

1,345

495

1,840

532,502

418,191

501,750

Yr./Yr. % Change

-28.3%

-36.5%

-30.7%

24.6%

16.6%

23.2%

 

July 2017 Year-Over-Year Per Cent Change in the MLS® HPI

 

Composite (All Types)

Single-Family Detached

Single-Family Attached

Townhouse

Apartment

TREB Total

18.00%

14.93%

13.54%

25.29%

27.87%

Halton Region

13.96%

11.59%

12.10%

23.70%

20.79%

Peel Region

18.73%

15.59%

15.23%

23.83%

28.58%

City of Toronto

20.10%

13.12%

12.88%

26.54%

29.36%

York Region

15.12%

14.88%

11.22%

29.39%

23.67%

Durham Region

20.88%

20.68%

17.87%

25.54%

24.42%

Orangeville

26.91%

27.08%

27.03%

-

-

South Simcoe County1

19.93%

19.35%

21.62%

-

-

Source: Toronto Real Estate Board

1South Simcoe includes Adjala-Tosorontio, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Essa, Innisfil and New Tecumseth