Toronto house prices soar in September

TORONTO – Housing sales in the Toronto area continued to soar last month, with the average price rising 20.4 per cent from September last year to $755,755, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported Wednesday.

The price increases came as the number of transactions in the Greater Toronto Area rose 21.5 per cent, a stark contrast to a big drop in the number of transactions last month in Vancouver’s residential real estate market.

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The real estate board said Wednesday there was strong growth in sales transactions for all major home types in the area but a lack of supply limited growth in the City of Toronto itself.

By comparison, figures released Tuesday by Vancouver’s real estate board showed a 32.6 per cent drop in sales transactions compared with September 2015 — prior to a new 15 per cent provincial tax on foreign buyers that came into effect in August.

Vancouver prices continued to rise but some analysts expect a prolonged decline in demand will lower the sky-high cost of housing in Canada’s most expensive real estate market.

There’s also been anecdotal evidence that some foreign buyers have shifted their focus from Vancouver to other cities, including Toronto. On Monday, the federal government unveiled measures to tighten rules for prospective buyers and lenders.

“The Toronto Real Estate Board will be closely monitoring how the recent changes to federal mortgage lending guidelines and capital gains tax exemption rules impact the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area,” Jason Mercer, the board’s director of market analysis, said in a statement Wednesday.

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“While these changes are pointed at the demand for ownership housing, it is important to note that much of the upward pressure on home prices in the GTA has been based on the declining inventory of homes available for sale.”

The real estate board’s benchmark price index was up 18 per cent from September 2015, after adjusting to various types of housing..

The average sale price for detached houses in Toronto proper rose to $1.29 million, up 23 per cent from a year earlier. The comparable price for detached houses in surrounding areas was $928,414, up 26.6 per cent.

By contrast, prices for condos in Toronto proper grew only 6.5 per cent to $446,729. Condo prices in other parts of the Greater Toronto Area were up 19.4 per cent to $367,260.