Toronto Real Estate Board Q3 2019 Condo Report

Every quarter the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) releases their condo market statistics for the city. The committee serves the over 50,000 realtors of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to assist them in understanding where the market was, where it is and where it’s projected to head. The information comes from their Multiple Listing Service (MLS) which collects all the data of condominium sales. Job growth as well as an increase in population are the main factors contributing to these trends. The collection of data further evidences the continuing benefits of the Toronto market. Here is a breakdown of the third quarter condo market status report for the GTA.

The Greater Toronto Area consists of the City of Toronto, as well as the Peel, Durham, York and Halton regions. The City of Toronto holds the vast majority of sales with a 70% stake, demonstrated an increase of 5.6% to $628,074 from last year’s third quarter of $594,627. The second highest is in Peel (14%), while Halton (2%) falls in the smallest sales section. Condo apartment sales for this quarter reached an 11.1% increase to 6,407, while Q3 2018 was at 5,766. New listings are down by 1% from the same time last year, we had 9,538 units, while 2018 was 9,636. The average price now sits at an average of $584,564, while Q3 2018 was 5.8% lower at $552,766. 

For 2019, we see an increase in prices from 2018, along with positive decreases for already established investors. The active listings of the final month of the quarter were at 3,327, and last year’s was 3,845. We saw an average of 22 days on the market for these properties, while it was 24 last year. 

Year over year we see rising increases in prices in the condominium market. This is due to our widely increasing population and the deficit of properties being built. According to a statistics report by RBC Economics, we need an increase of an average 26,800 units built over the next few years to catch up with demand. These increasing prices make it more difficult for people to buy, while renting grows to be a more utilized option. Less condominium apartments were completed this year, which also influences the rise in prices. Employment rates are also a large factor, as employment growth in September is at 5% (it was at 1.5% at the same time last year), while the unemployment rate has improved to 5.8% (over the 6.1% of the same time last year).