David George-Cosh – Wall Street Journal

With fewer single-family homes available to buy in Toronto, home buyers in Canada’s biggest city opted to look at the condo market instead last month.

Comment: They have been looking at condos for 10 years now. Partly because of prices, because of inventory, changing demographics, investment, etc.

Sales of existing homes in Toronto moved 2.1% higher in February compared to the same month last year, largely due to a 12.5% spike in sales of condos in the city, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.

That contrasts with sales declines in townhouses, detached and semi-detached homes in the month because of constrained supply, the board said.

“Some would-be buyers had difficulty finding a home that met their needs,” said TREB president Dianne Usher in a statement.

The average price of a home in Toronto rose 8.6% in February to $553,193 from the same month last year.

The average price of a detached rose 15.7% in the month to $955,314 in Toronto’s 416 area, as the sprawling city’s core is referred to because of its area code. By comparison, a similar home in Vancouver now costs $1.36 million, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

And there doesn’t appear to be much stopping the rise in Toronto home prices after the Bank of Canada maintained its policy rate Wednesday, a move that could help keep mortgage rates at current low levels for the foreseeable future.

“Home prices, on average, will trend upwards at a pace well-above the rate of inflation,” said Jason Mercer, senior manager of market analysis at TREB. “The impact of strong price growth on affordability will be mitigated by low borrowing costs.”

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Contact Laurin Jeffrey for more information – 416-388-1960

Laurin Jeffrey is a Toronto real estate agent with Century 21 Regal Realty.
He did not write these articles, he just reproduces them here for people who
are interested in Toronto real estate. He does not work for any builders.
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