The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says the number of homes sold in the region in June was just shy of the mark set a year ago as the average selling price rose nearly 12 per cent compared with June 2019.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says home sales were down 69 per cent in the first 17 days of April compared with a year ago as the COVID-19 outbreak put a chill on market activity.

Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says home sales were strong in the first half of March but then started to slow down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says it expects the average selling price to run at about $900,000 for the year, up nearly 10 per cent from the average of $819,319 last year as new listings are expected to be flat to down.

The Toronto Real Estate Board says there were 8,491 sales in the Greater Toronto Area in October 2019, up from 7,448 sales in October 2018.

The average selling price in the Greater Toronto Area was up 3.2 per cent year-over-year to $806,755 while the board's home price index was up 4.4 per cent.

The board says the stress tests - brought in by the federal government to cool excess borrowing and an overheated market - continues to limit the ability of some buyers to qualify for a mortgage.

The Toronto Real Estate Board says there were 5,025 homes sold in the region last month, down from 5,148 in the same month last year.

The board's president Phil Moore questions whether the mortgage stress test introduced last year is still needed.

The Toronto Real Estate Board says the average selling price for all property types was $748,328 last month.