E.B.Dungey Realty Ltd. Brokerage

TORONTO, April 17, 2015 — Toronto Real Estate Board President Paul Etherington announced that condominium apartment rental transactions and listings reported by Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® were up strongly on a year-over-year basis in the first quarter of 2015. The total number of units rented was up by 20.9 per cent to 6,074. A very similar annual growth rate of 20.2 per cent was noted for the number of units listed during the first quarter, with the number climbing to 13,409. Two-thirds of condo apartment rental transactions took place in TREB’s central districts within the City of Toronto.

“There are many renter households in the GTA and this number continues to increase as our population grows each year.  As a result, demand has been strong, keeping vacancy rates low.  This is why, even as more investor-held units became available for rent over the past year, many of these units were absorbed in short order.  Condo apartments appeal to renters looking to take advantage of new, modern apartments located in popular locations in the City of Toronto and surrounding regions,” said Mr. Etherington.

The great majority of condo apartment rentals were accounted for by one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. The average one-bedroom rent was up by 0.8 per cent year-over-year to $1,585. The average two-bedroom rent was up by 1.1 per cent year-over-year to $2,180.

“There was enough demand from renter households in the first quarter to see moderate average rent increases for the popular one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartment types. The fact that new listings continued to be absorbed speaks to the fact that the GTA rental market remains tight and investor-held condo units make up an important segment of the overall rental stock,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis.

Article source: http://www.torontorealestateboard.com/market_news/release_market_updates/news2015/nr_rental_report_Q1-2015.htm

TORONTO, April 17, 2015 — Toronto Real Estate Board President Paul Etherington announced that there were 4,975 condominium apartment sales reported through the TorontoMLS system in the fourth quarter of 2014. This result was up by 8.3 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2013. 

“Demand for condominium apartments remained strong in the fourth quarter of 2014.  While the supply of condominium apartments listed for sale grew in the fourth quarter, including a large number of newly completed units, the number of sales grew at a faster pace.  Competition between buyers increased in the condo market over the past year,” said Mr. Etherington. 

“Interest in ownership housing in the GTA, including demand from first-time buyers in the condo market, is extremely strong.  The majority of households understand that a home purchase represents a quality long-term investment,” said Mr. Etherington. 

The average TorontoMLS selling price for a condominium apartment in the fourth quarter of 2014 was $367,199 – up 3.8 per cent compared to the average of $353,799 reported for the same period in 2013.

“Despite very strong condominium apartment completions over the last two years, we have not experienced a glut in inventory.  The number of buyers has more than kept up with the number of units available for sale.  This is why we continued to experience above-inflation average price growth in the condo segment,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis.

Article source: http://www.torontorealestateboard.com/market_news/release_market_updates/news2015/nr_condo_report_Q1-2015.htm

TORONTO, April 10, 2015 — Housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended at 30,194 units in March compared to 25,041 in February according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)¹ of housing starts.

“Housing starts rebounded to an eight-month high in March due to developers starting new high-rise projects, which are part of an increase in pre-construction condominium apartment sales since mid-2013,” said Dana Senagama, CMHC’s Principal of Market Analysis for the GTA. “Strong high rise completions so far this year have also enabled builders to channel more resources to new projects.”

CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations, analysing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets which can be quite variable from one month to the next.

The stand alone monthly SAAR was 45,955 units in March, up from 22,551 units in February. This was the result of a significant increase in apartment starts this month.

Total housing completions in the Toronto CMA reached 21,720 units in the first quarter of 2015, while completions of condominium apartments reached a record 17,166 units – already surpassing the annual totals recorded in the past three years. This increase is due to an elevated number of high rise units that have been under construction for the past two years owing to record high rise starts in 2012.

With so many high rise units being fully completed, resource constraints (in terms of machinery and labour) that previously acted as impediments for new projects from breaking ground were less so in the past month. While high rise completions have surged, unsold inventory of condominium apartments rose by just 113 units by the end of the first quarter of 2015, an increase that can easily be absorbed by a market the size of Toronto.

The City of Toronto and the City of Vaughan recorded the first and second highest number of starts in March respectively. Both of these municipalities had a significant number of condominium apartment starts. The next highest number was recorded in Brampton, which saw the largest number of low rise units begin construction.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada’s authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

¹ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) — that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

Information on this release:

Market Analysis Contact:
Dana Senagama
416-218-3328
dsenagam@cmhc.ca

Media Contact:
Angelina Ritacco
416-218-3320
aritacco@cmhc.ca

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

Additional data is available upon request.

Source: CMHC
¹ Census Metropolitan Area
² The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR).
Detailed data available upon request

Source: CMHC

Source: CMHC

Article source: http://www.cmhc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2015/2015-04-10-0816b.cfm