Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says the market kicked off the fall selling season with an 18 per cent increase in homes sold in September and a 34 per cent drop in new listings.
The Ontario board revealed Tuesday that 11,033 homes changed hands in the region last month, up from 9,046 last September.
The uptick in sales is typical when autumn arrives, but the board said this year’s spike was the third-highest on record for September and signals that the market is still facing tightened conditions.
“Demand has remained incredibly robust throughout September with many qualified buyers who would buy a home tomorrow provided they could find a suitable property,” said TRREB President Kevin Crigger, in a release.
Brokers and prospective buyers and sellers have long been eyeing the fall, after the summer saw sales slow and supply dwindle.
Realtors said in August that many of their clients were taking a break or delaying their search for a home or buyer until children returned to school, border restrictions were loosened and people begun listing properties once more.
But September didn’t deliver all they expected.
Active listings, TRREB said, experienced a steep fall as they dropped almost 50 per cent to 9,191 from 18,167 in September 2020.
New listings for the month amounted to 13,483, down from 20,441 last September.
“With new listings in September down by one-third compared to last year, purchasing a home for many is easier said than done,” said Crigger.
Those who do manage to purchase a home are also forking out more on average than they did before.
Average prices increased by 18.3 per cent to more than $1.1 million last month from $960,613 last September, TRREB said.
Condo apartments averaged $708,521, townhouses reached $909,226, semi-detached homes were $1,114,696 and detached properties hit $1,526,465.
“Price growth in September continued to be driven by the low-rise market segments, including detached and semi-detached houses and townhouses,” said Jason Mercer, TRREB’s chief market analyst, in a release.
“However, competition between buyers for condo apartments has picked up markedly over the past year, which has led to an acceleration in price growth over the past few months as first-time buyers re-entered the ownership market. Look for this trend to continue.”
The board predicted in February that by the year’s end, the average selling price in the region will have reached $1.025 million, up from an average $929,692 last year.
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