Toronto condo prices have shot up more than 12 per cent since last year

Home sales continue to rebound in Toronto this year after a major market slide in 2017 and 2018, but prices are another story.

New figures released this morning from the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) show that, while sales of new single-family homes were up 14 per cent in January over the same month last year, they actually cost about 8.1 per cent less now than they did 12 months ago at an average of $1,130,046.

Condo prices, on the other hand, just keep on rising. The benchmark price on a new condominium apartment in the Greater Toronto Area was up 12.5 per cent year-over-year last month, according to the BILD, reaching an average of $803,638.

January New Home Sales by municipality. Image by BILD. Data via Altus Group.

Condo sales, like new home sales, were affected by a sharp drop-off in buyer activity beginning in mid-2017 with the introduction of Canada's mortgage stress-test and Ontario's new 15 per cent tax on foreign home buyers.

Such government measures, combined with higher interest rates and general lack of affordable homes on the market, have cooled the market as intended (and then some) in and around the City of Toronto.

Because of this, it's important to note that a year-over-year sales increase isn't as impressive as it once might have been.

#Condo apartment sales in the Greater #Toronto Area are down from a year ago, when buyers scrambled to purchase their units before the mortgage stress test regulations came into effect. But demand for condos has not subsided, and that has pushed prices up.

— Helga Teitsson (@helgashomes) February 24, 2019

Sure, new single family homes were up 14 per cent in January over the previous 12 months, but they were actually down 53 per cent from the 10-year average.

Even sales in the booming condo market are still five per cent lower that what we've seen on average over the past 10 years.

"It looks like the market is starting to return to typical levels after a particularly difficult year," says BILD President David Wilkes of last month's figures.

"With the spring budget coming up, we are calling on the federal government to take steps to make it easier for first-time home buyers to get into the housing market."