E.B.Dungey Realty Ltd. Brokerage

TORONTO, January 27, 2016 — Toronto Real Estate Board President Mark McLean announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 6,073 condominium apartment rentals through TREB’s MLS® System in the fourth quarter of 2015.  This result represented a substantial 20.7 per cent increase compared to 5,032 rentals reported in Q4 2014.

“While the ownership market is often top-of-mind when we think about condominium apartments in the GTA, it is important to remember that investor-held condos have become an increasingly important source of rental supply.  Renters looking for mid- to high-end units have tended to be pointed at condo rentals.  Strong demand resulted in tighter market conditions in Q4,” said Mr. McLean.

Year-over-year growth in rental transactions outstripped growth in the number of units listed during the quarter.  This suggests that competition between renters increased, which explains above-inflation rent increases for one- and two-bedroom condo apartments.

“Tighter rental market conditions resulted in strong increases in average rents compared to last year.  Looking forward into 2016, expect rent growth to remain strong if we continue to see growth in the number of transactions outpace growth in the number of units listed for rent,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis.

Article source: http://www.trebhome.com/market_news/release_market_updates/news2015/nr_rental_report_Q4-2015.htm

TORONTO, January 27, 2016 — Toronto Real Estate Board President Mark McLean announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 5,595 condominium apartment sales through TREB’s MLS® System during the fourth quarter of 2015.  This result was up by 12.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2014.

Over the same period of time, the number of new condominium apartment listings entered into TREB’s MLS® System was also up, but by a substantially lower annual rate compared to sales, at 3.3 per cent.  The result was tighter market conditions compared to a year earlier.

“The condominium apartment segment is integral to the overall housing market in the Greater Toronto Area.  Over the past decade, the trend has been to increasingly build up due to provincial land use policies.  As new projects have completed, a number of investor-held units have been listed for sale on TREB’s MLS® System.  These units have been absorbed quite rapidly, with enough demand relative to supply to prompt continued price growth,” said Mr. McLean.

The average selling price for condominium apartments in the fourth quarter was up by 4.1 per cent year over year to $382,070.  Throughout the fourth quarter, the MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Apartment Benchmark Price was up by between four and six per cent on an annual basis.

“First-time buyers account for approximately half of all buyers in the GTA and even more so in the City of Toronto.  Condominium apartments represent an important entry point into home ownership for a lot of households.  This is a key reason why we experienced continued growth in sales for this home type over the past year,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis.

Article source: http://www.trebhome.com/market_news/release_market_updates/news2015/nr_condo_report_Q4-2015.htm

TORONTO, January 11, 2016 — Housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended at 44,881 units in December compared to 45,843 in November according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

“While Toronto saw housing starts decrease in December, overall actual starts for the year increased by 46 per cent compared to 2014,” said Andrew Scott, CMHC Senior Market Analyst for the GTA. “Not only did 2015 see apartment construction increase by 76 per cent in the region, it also saw single-detached and row home starts increase. Improving labour market conditions and lower mortgage rates ramped up housing demand in 2015.”

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 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 standalone monthly SAAR was 24,852 units in December, down from 59,011 units in November. The decrease was the result of fewer apartment starts.

The City of Brampton recorded the highest number of starts among municipalities in December, as construction of new apartment units started. The municipality with next highest number was the City of Toronto, that resulted from mostly single-detached and apartment units starts. The City of Toronto was followed by Vaughan, where single-detached construction was robust.

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.

For more information, follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Information on this release:

Media Contact:

Angelina Ritacco, Public Affairs Advisor, Communications and Marketing
416-218-3320
Cell: 647-210-7420
aritacco@cmhc.ca

Additional data is available upon request.

Source: CMHC

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/2016/2016-01-11-0816b.cfm

TORONTO, January 6, 2016 — The second best sales result on record for December capped off a record year for TREB MLS® home sales in the GTA. Toronto Real Estate Board President Mark McLean announced that there were 4,945 sales reported in December bringing the 2015 calendar year total to 101,299 – a substantial 9.2 per cent increase compared to 2014 as a whole. Strong annual sales increases were experienced for all major home types last year.

“Home ownership is a quality long-term investment that families can live in while the value increases over time. A relatively strong regional economy in the GTA coupled with low borrowing costs kept a record number of households – first-time buyers and existing homeowners alike – confident in their ability to purchase and pay for a home over the long term,” said Mr. McLean.

“If the market had benefitted from more listings, the 2015 sales total would have been greater. As it stands, we begin 2016 with a substantial amount of pent-up demand,” continued Mr. McLean.

The average selling price for 2015 as a whole was $622,217 – up 9.8 per cent compared to $566,624 in 2014. The MLS® HPI Composite Benchmark Price was up by a similar annual rate of 10 per cent in December. GTA home price growth was driven by the low-rise segments of the market, but condominium apartment price growth was generally well-above the rate of inflation as well through 2015.

“TREB will release its official 2016 outlook later in January, but suffice to say that the demand for ownership housing is expected to remain very strong in 2016. Despite stricter mortgage lending guidelines and the possibility of slightly higher borrowing costs, on average, there will be many buyers who remain upbeat on the purchase of ownership housing,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis.

Article source: http://www.trebhome.com/market_news/release_market_updates/news2015/nr_market_watch_1215.htm