TORONTO, April 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Toronto Real Estate Board President Garry Bhaura announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 7,187 residential sales through TREB’s MLS® System in March 2019.  This result was inline with 7,188 sales reported in March 2018.  For the first quarter of 2019, sales were down by one per cent compared to Q1 2018.

While March and Q1 sales remained relatively flat compared to last year, new listings have declined more so than sales.  March new listings were down by 5.1 per cent year-over-year and Q1 new listings were down by 1.5 per cent.

“The OSFI stress test continues to impact home buyers’ ability to qualify for a mortgage. TREB is still arguing that the stress test provisions and mortgage lending guidelines generally, including allowable amortization periods for insured mortgages, should be reviewed. The supply of listings in the GTA also remains a problem.  Bringing a greater diversity of ownership and rental housing online, including ‘missing middle’ home types, should be a priority of all levels of government.  TREB is happy to be taking part in the City of Toronto’s consultations for the Housing TO – 2020-2030 Action Plan , and will certainly be raising the supply issue during these discussions,” said Mr. Bhaura.

“While the City of Toronto’s recently announced Housing TO – 2020-2030 Action Plan is exciting and commendable, and TREB looks forward to contributing solutions as a Member of the External Advisory Committee, the recently proposed increase to the Municipal Land Transfer Tax on higher priced properties is problematic.  As the recent City budget process showed, the MLTT is not a sustainable revenue source from which to fund municipal programs.  On top of this, additional MLTT on higher priced homes could have a trickle-down effect on the supply of homes throughout the housing price continuum,” said TREB CEO John Di Michele.

The MLS® Home Price Index Composite Benchmark was up by 2.6 per cent year-over-year in March, while the average price for March sales was up by a lesser annual rate of 0.5 per cent to $788,335.  The average selling price for Q1 2019 was up by 1.1 per cent year-over-year.

“Market conditions have remained tight enough to support a moderate pace of price growth.  Despite sales being markedly lower than the record levels of 2016 and early 2017, the supply of listings has also receded.  This means that in many neighbourhoods throughout the GTA, we continue to see competition between buyers for available listings, which provides a level of support for home prices,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Chief Market Analyst.

 
Summary of TREB MLS®  Sales and Average Price
  March 1 - 31, 2019
  2019 2018
  Sales Average Price New Listings Sales Average Price New Listings
City of Toronto ("416") 2,545 830,043 4,527 2,783 817,619 4,410
Rest of GTA ("905") 4,642 765,469 9,469 4,405 763,599 10,343
GTA 7,187 788,335 13,996 7,188 784,514 14,753
             
 
TREB MLS® Sales & Average Price  By Home Type
  March 1 - 31, 2019
  Sales Average Price
  416 905 Total 416 905 Total
             
Detached 671 2,559 3,230 1,267,598 910,624 984,782
Yr./Yr. % Change -4.0% 6.8% 4.3% -2.1% -1.2% -2.1%
Semi-Detached 215 456 671 1,020,561 680,501 789,462
Yr./Yr. % Change -8.5 1.6% -1.9% -1.3% 4.5% 0.8%
Townhouse 296 957 1,253 741,881 617,226 646,674
Yr./Yr. % Change 15.2% 11.1% 12.1% 0.4% 1.2% 1.2%
Condo Apartment 1,349 616 1,965 603,969 463,774 560,020
Yr./Yr. % Change -14.1% 1.7% -9.7% 2.3% 3.3% 1.6%
             
 
March 2019 Year-Over-Year Per Cent Change in the MLS® HPI
  Composite (All Types) Single-Family Detached Single-Family Attached Townhouse Apartment
TREB Total 2.60% 0.08% 2.02% 4.14% 7.17%
Halton Region -0.23% -1.56% 0.30% 4.06% 1.68%
Peel Region 5.01% 3.54% 4.45% 3.82% 10.68%
City of Toronto 5.55% 1.79% 4.52% 5.80% 7.87%
York Region -1.95% -2.64% -2.14% -0.38% 1.81%
Durham Region -0.42% -0.47% 0.62% -1.86% -1.42%
Orangeville 3.41% 3.45% 2.73% - -
South Simcoe County 1 -0.28% -0.45% 0.95% - -
Source: Toronto Real Estate Board
1 South Simcoe includes Adjala-Tosorontio, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Essa, Innisfil and New Tecumseth
   
 
Annual Summary of TREB MLS® Sales and Average Price Year-to-Date
  2019 2018
  Sales Average Price New Listings Sales Average Price New Listings
City of Toronto ("416") 5,837 820,412 10,975 6,297 802,051 10,544
Rest of GTA ("905") 10,341 751,016 22,307 10,026 745,576 23,243
GTA 16,178 776,054 33,282 16,323 767,363 33,787
             
 
Annual TREB MLS® Sales & Average Price  By Home Type Year-to-Date 2019
  Sales Average Price
  416 905 Total 416 905 Total
             
Detached 1,480 5,605 7,085 1,254,683 899,128 973,400
Yr./Yr. % Change -7.1% 5.7% 2.8% -2.7% -0.9% -2.3%
Semi-Detached 480 981 1,461 1,039,640 671,533 792,472
Yr./Yr. % Change 1.3% -3.4% -1.9% 4.0% 3.7% 4.4%
Townhouse 596 2,124 2,720 761,098 609,121 642,422
Yr./Yr. % Change 3.8% 3.3% 3.4% 2.2% 1.3% 1.6%
Condo Apartment 3,247 1,484 4,731 603,243 457,020 557,377
Yr./Yr. % Change -10.0% 1.1% -6.8% 5.4% 4.4% 4.5%
             
   
Seasonally Adjusted TREB MLS® Sales and Average Price 1  
  Sales Month-over-Month % Chg. Average Price Month-over-Month % Chg.
March '18 6,095 1.8% $754,737 -2.0%
April '18 5,907 -3.1% $755,515 0.1%
May '18 5,824 -1.4% $764,259 1.2%
June '18 6,490 11.4% $786,406 2.9%
July '18 6,746 3.9% $806,907 2.6%
August '18 6,947 3.0% $804,581 -0.3%
September '18 6,922 -0.4% $800,687 -0.5%
October '18 6,793 -1.9% $807,128 0.8%
November '18 6,698 -1.4% $800,590 -0.8%
December '18 6,751 0.8% $793,999 -0.8%
January '19 6,815 0.9% $779,242 -1.9%
February '19 6,203 -9.0% $764,121 -1.9%
March '19 6,311 1.7% $759,444 -0.6%
Source: Toronto Real Estate Board; CREA Seasonal Adjustment
1 Preliminary seasonal adjustment undertaken by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).  Removing normal seasonal variations allows for more meaningful analysis of monthly changes and underlying trends.
 

Media Inquiries: Mary Gallagher, Senior Manager, Public Affairs maryg@trebnet.com (416) 443-8158

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