GTA home sales down 22% in May, but prices remain strong

The Toronto Real Estate Board says May home sales in the Greater Toronto Area were down 22.2% compared with the same month last year.

The board said Monday that while the number of sales was down year-over-year to 7,834 units, the annual rate of decline was less than reported in February, March and April, when sales were down by more than 30%.

Read: Canadian home sales drop 14% in April: CREA

On a month-over-month basis, seasonally adjusted May sales were basically flat compared with April as they slipped 0.4% lower.

The average selling price for all home types combined was down by 6.6% to $805,320.

But on a seasonally adjusted basis, the average selling price was up 1.1% compared to the previous month of April.

Jason Mercer, the board’s director of market analysis, said market conditions are becoming tighter in the GTA, and this will provide support for home prices through the second half of 2018 and into 2019.

“There are emerging indicators pointing toward increased competition between buyers, which generally leads to stronger price growth,” Mercer said in a statement.

“In the City of Toronto, for example, average selling prices were at or above average listing prices for all major home types in May.”

Observers believe last April may have been the peak of the Toronto-area market before the Ontario government brought in a package of measures to cool the market.

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The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.