New Home Market Off to an Encouraging Start in January

In January, sales of new homes in the Greater Toronto Area showed a moderate increase from last year, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced today.

 

A total of 1,362 new homes were sold in January 2019, which was 14 percent more than the number sold in January of last year, according to Altus Group*, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence.

 

January’s sales of new single-family homes, including detached, linked, and semi-detached houses and townhouses (excluding stacked townhouses), with 420 single-family homes sold, were still low from a historical perspective, down 53 percent from the 10-year average. Sales of new condominium apartments, including units in low, medium, and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses, and loft units, were only five percent lower than the 10-year average, with 942 units sold.

 

“This year is starting off on a positive note,” said Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s Executive Vice President, Data Solutions. “The improvement in new home sales over last January is consistent with our outlook for somewhat higher annual sales in the GTA this year, following the drop in 2018.”

 

Benchmark prices of new homes continued recent trends, with the benchmark price of single-family homes moderating slightly from last month to $1,130,046, down 8.1 percent over the last 12 months, and the condo apartment benchmark price increasing from last month to $803,638, up 12.5 percent over the last 12 months.

 

With little new product coming into the housing market in January, the remaining inventory decreased slightly from last month to 15,530 units comprised of 10,364 condo apartment units and 5,166 single-family homes. The remaining inventory includes units in preconstruction projects, projects currently under construction, and completed buildings.

 

“It looks like the market is starting to return to typical levels after a particularly difficult year,” said David Wilkes, BILD President & CEO. “With the spring budget coming up, we are calling on the federal government to take steps to make it easier for first-time home buyers to get into the housing market.”