Toronto area home sales down 35%, Montreal up 5%

Canada’s largest real estate board says home sales in the Greater Toronto Area fell nearly 35% year-over-year in February, as selling prices dropped more than 12%.

The Toronto Real Estate Board reported 5,175 residential transactions through TREB’s MLS system last month, down 34.9% compared to the record 7,955 sales reported in February 2017.

The number of new listings entered into TREB’s MLS system in February totalled 10,520, a 7.3% increase compared to the 9,801 new listings entered during the same month last year.

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However, the level of new listings remained below average for the month of February for the previous 10 years.

The overall average selling price for February sales was down 12.4% year-over-year to $767,818, but still 12% higher than the average reported for February 2016.

TREB’s 2018 outlook forecasted a slow start to the year compared to the historically high sales count reported in the winter and early spring of 2017.

TREB president Tim Syrianos says prospective buyers are still coming to terms with Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan, as well as new mortgage stress test guidelines from the federal Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

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Meanwhile, 4,081 residential sales were concluded in February 2018 in the Montréal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). That’s a 5% increase compared to February last year, the Greater Montréal Real Estate Board (GMREB) reported.

Sales by geographic area

• Five of the six main areas of the Montréal CMA registered an increase in sales in February, Laval being the sole exception with a 3% decrease.
• The area of Vaudreuil-Soulanges performed especially well with a 21% jump in sales.
• The areas of South Shore (10%), Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (7%) and the Island of Montréal (5%) posted significant increases, while the increase in the number of transactions was more modest on the North Shore (2%).

Sales by property

• As was the case in 21 of the past 24 months, condominiums registered the largest increase in sales, jumping by 14%.
• Single-family homes and plexes (two to five dwellings) posted small increases of 1% and 3%, respectively.

Prices

• The median price of single-family homes across the Montréal CMA stood at $310,000 in February, up 6% compared to February 2017.
• The median price of condominiums increased by 5%, as half of all units sold for more than $250,000.
• As for plexes, their median price reached $481,500, a 1% increase compared to February of last year.

“The acceleration in price growth is a direct result of increasingly tighter market conditions, which can be explained by a decline in the supply of properties for sale,” says Mathieu Cousineau, president of the GMREB Board of Directors.

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