New home market in GTA shows increases in September

TORONTO — The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) recently announced the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) new home market saw an increase in September over the previous month, both in terms of new project openings and new home sales.

According to Altus Group, BILD’s source for new home market intelligence, there were 1,747 new homes sold in September, a sizeable increase over August’s 974 new home sales.

Condominium apartments in low, medium and highrise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units accounted for 1,494 new home sales in September, down 20 per cent from September 2017 and down 20 per cent from the 10-year average, indicates the release issued by BILD.

Single-family home sales, with 253 detached, linked and semi-detached houses and townhouses (excluding stacked townhouses) sold, which is down 28 per cent from last September and down 77 per cent from the 10-year average.

With 10 condominium apartment projects and seven single-family home projects opening in September, remaining inventory increased to 13,952 units, comprised of 8,820 condo apartment units and 5,132 single family units. Remaining inventory includes units in preconstruction projects, those currently under construction and in completed buildings.

This shortfall in the supply of condominium apartments partly accounts for the closing gap between the prices of condos and single-family homes in the GTA, reported the release, adding in September the benchmark price for condo apartments rose again, to $789,643, which was up 19.4 per cent over the last 12 months, while the benchmark price for single-family homes softened again slightly to approximately $1.1 million down 7.1 per cent over the last 12 months.

“It appears more buyers — and builders — are starting to come in from the sidelines,” said Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s executive vice-president of data solutions, in a statement. “The increase from August in both new condominium apartment sales and the number of units in new projects launched was somewhat stronger than the typical September bump alone would suggest.”