It was the best September on record for Toronto home sales, with 42.3 per cent more sales closing last month than in September 2019.

Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area posted a record for August as they rose 40.3 per cent compared with a year ago and prices shot higher, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said Thursday.

July was a record-breaking month for Toronto real estate sales, as 11,081 homes changed hands.

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 board says there were 4,606 sales in the Greater Toronto Area through its MLS system in May, down 53.7 per cent compared with a year earlier.

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.

The board says there were 7,256 homes sold last month in the Toronto region through its MLS system. That compared with 4,982 in February 2019.

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.