Toronto housing market shows first signs of cooling down

The price of real estate in Toronto remains sky high, but the market might finally be showing signs of a cool down.

The Toronto Real Estate Board has just released its numbers for April, and while the average selling price was up by 24.5 percent, there was also a huge surge in listings.

TREB President Larry Cerqua notes it's too early to determine if the flood of listings is a reaction to huge price growth over the last year or if it represents a reaction to the provincial government's Fair Housing Plan.

Either way, would-be buyers had far more choice in April than they did a year ago.

The availability of listings wasn't the only sign of a possible cool down. Prices for detached homes slipped slightly from March, falling from $1,214,422 to $1,205,262. Semi-detached houses also dipped compared to last month. By contrast, condo prices increased by 4.3 percent.

The overall number of homes sold dropped by 3.2 percent, but TREB says that can be chalked up to the Easter long weekend, which fell in April this year.

It was a bit of a mixed up month for Toronto real estate, but that in and of itself is noteworthy given that the narrative has steadily been dominated by strong price gains and concerns related to housing supply.