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Toronto, Vancouver Housing Markets See Dwindling Supply As Sales Accelerate

Toronto condo prices are up sharply, and Vancouver home sales are back to normal after a slump.
Residential high-rises and a shopping centre in the Greater Vancouver city of Coquitlam, B.C., March 9, 2018:
edb3_16 via Getty Images
Residential high-rises and a shopping centre in the Greater Vancouver city of Coquitlam, B.C., March 9, 2018:

After a few slow years, Canada’s two priciest housing markets are starting to look like their old selves again, with sales and prices heading upwards.

Toronto home sales in November rose 14.2 per cent from a year ago while home prices saw their strongest growth for the year, the Toronto Real Estate Board said Wednesday.

The higher activity mixed with fewer listings put upward pressure on prices. The average selling price for the month was up 7.1 per cent from last year to $843,637, while the board’s composite benchmark price increased by 6.8 per cent.

Watch: This Canadian castle is up for grabs. Story continues below.

Detached home sales rose 23.8 per cent from a year ago and the average price rose 3.5 per cent to $1.04 million. Condo sales were up one per cent from a year ago and the average price rose 11.1 per cent to $617,658.

The board says strong population growth and declining mortgage rates helped push up sales and competition between buyers.

Fewer homes available for sale

In both Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver, sales rose even as listings continued to drop.

New listings down 17.9 per cent year-over-year in Toronto and active listings down 27.2 per cent.

In Vancouver, the number of listings was down 12.5 per cent from a year earlier.

Sales in Greater Vancouver jumped 55.3 per cent in November, compared to the same month a year earlier. But that compares to a very weak month last year, and this year’s sales are only slightly above the 10-year average, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said.

Detached home prices have stopped falling in Vancouver, up 0.3 per cent from October to $1.415 million. But that’s still 5.8 per cent lower than a year ago, because of declines earlier this year.

Condo prices were still falling in Vancouver, down 0.2 per cent from October to a benchmark price of $651,500. That’s 3.8 per cent lower than a year ago.

With files from The Canadian Press

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