An interesting year ahead
Justin da Rosa
REP
Record prices and “crisis”-level inventory issues may well be the major storylines for this major market in 2017.
Don’t expect Toronto’s record setting pace in 2016 slow down anytime soon, says the Building and Land Development Association (BILD) in its first report this year.
“We have a shortage of housing supply in the GTA that is approaching crisis levels,” BILD President and CEO Bryan Tuckey said. “Housing is selling as quickly as the industry can bring it to market and the lack of developable land that is serviced with infrastructure, excessive red tape, out-of-date zoning and NIMBYism are hindering our ability to bring more to the market.”
Last year was a record setting one for the hot housing market, according to BILD, with 29,186 new high-rise units sold across the GTA.
That’s more than any previous year and 30% more than 2015’s total.
In total, 47,161 new homes were sold across the GTA – 62% of those were high-rise units; 38% were low-rise.
“The decline in low-rise sales in 2016 was due to the lack of product available to purchase, not softer demand,” said Patricia Arsenault, Executive Vice President of Research Consulting Services at Altus Group. “The fact that new product is being quickly absorbed, despite rising prices, shows there is continued buyer interest in purchasing new ground-oriented homes in the GTA.”
New homes across the GTA reached record lows to end the year, despite prices breaking records.
“The lack of supply is forcing prices up across the board. The average price of available new low-rise homes, which includes detached and semi-detached houses and townhomes, was $995,116 in December 2016, and for new single-family detached homes in the GTA the average was $1,264,604,” BILD said in a release. “The average price of new detached homes increased by more than $273,000 in the past 12 months.”
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