Housing boom shows no signs of slowing
April 7, 2010
Comments on this story
(13)
John Goddard
STAFF REPORTER
Greater Toronto housing prices jumped 20 per cent in March compared with the same time last year, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported Tuesday.
Continuing an upward trend, the average existing house price hit $434,696 last month – up from $362,052 during the economic recession one year earlier, figures show.
First-quarter sales numbers proved the best on record since the real-estate board's boundaries changed more than a decade ago, said Jason Mercer, the board's senior manager of market analysis.
Realtors registered 10,430 sales through the Multiple Listing Service, lifting total sales for the first three months of 2010 to 22,418, TREB figures show.
"We're still going to see prices growing," Mercer said looking ahead. Ontario's harmonized sales tax takes effect July 1, adding to purchase costs, and mortgage rates are heading higher, perhaps creating a drag on the market.
"But if you look at it from a historic perspective, borrowing costs are still going to be quite low," Mercer said. "A lot of households are still going to find it affordable to move into some sort of ownership housing, or move around in that market if they already have a home."
In March, the median sale price for an existing Greater Toronto home hit $370,000, up from 317,500 the previous March, the board's figures show.
The annual rate of growth for new listings continued to accelerate in March, the board also reported, with new listings up 42 per cent from March two years ago.
Statistically, looking ahead to the second half of 2010, year-over-year price comparisons are expected to narrow, Mercer said.
"Last year, certainly, we were in a recession and this year we're certainly well into the recovery phase of the cycle," Mercer said of the wider economic context. "Those two factors play into that strong double-digit (20 per cent) increase.
"As we move into the second half of the year, we're going to be comparing to stronger prices last year, as well as we're going to see a little more supply in the market," he said.
"We're still going to see prices growing but we're going to be moving into the single digits."
The strong rebound in the existing housing market in recent months helped underpin the overall economic recovery, Toronto Real Estate Board President Tom Lebour said in a release.
"While we don't expect to see the same rates of growth (in the second half of 2010 as the first half)," Lebour said, "GTA households will remain confident in ownership housing as a quality long-term investment."
Toronto Star