New home sales in GTA were strong in 2021, inventory hit new lows

TORONTO—The GTA saw high levels of new home sales in 2021, the second highest on record after 2002, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) reported recently.

There were 46,651 new homes sold in the GTA overall in 2021, 27 per cent above the 10-year average according to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence.

Sales of condominium apartments, including units in low, medium and highrise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, were also strong in 2021 and with 32,919 units sold, condominium apartment sales were 40 per cent above the 10-year average and only 125 units short of 2017’s all-time record, indicates a release.

Altus also found:

• Single-family homes including detached, linked and semi-detached houses and townhouses accounted for 13,732 new home sales in 2021, four per cent above the 10-year average.
• The month of December contributed 2,739 new home sales to the annual total. With 2,170 condominium apartment units sold, it was the second highest December for condo sales after 2016.
• Benchmark pricing hit new records in December. The benchmark price for new condominium apartments in December was over $1.16 million which was up 13.5 per cent over the last 12 months, and the benchmark price for new single-family homes was $1.82 million, which was up 38.5 per cent over the last 12 months.
• Few new projects opened in December and total new home remaining inventory dipped from the previous month to 8,922 units, the lowest level since Altus Group began recording in January 2000, representing about 2.3 months of inventory based on average sales for the past 12 months. A balanced market would have nine to 12 months of inventory.

“The record low inventory levels and record high benchmark pricing we saw in December illustrate perfectly why housing supply and affordability will rank among the defining issues in this year’s provincial and municipal elections,” said Justin Sherwood, BILD’s senior VP of communications and stakeholder relations, in a statement. “Insufficient housing supply is driving the GTA’s housing affordability challenge while exacerbating inequality, slowing down economic growth and threatening our collective quality of life. Voters will demand meaningful platforms and policy ideas from candidates and parties.”