Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) set a new record for April and amounted to more than quadruple that from April 2020 – the first full month of the pandemic, according to the Greater Toronto Real Estate Board (TRREB). Bucking the regular seasonal trend, April 2021 sales actually declined month-over-month. A similar trend was noted for the number of new listings reported.
GTA REALTORS® reported 13,663 sales through TRREB’s MLS® System in April 2021 – a 12.7 per cent decrease compared to March 2021, but more than quadruple the number of sales reported in April 2020, when the economic impact of COVID-19 was arguably the worst. Compared to the ten-year sales average of 10,000 for the April 2010 to April 2019 period, the April 2021 sales result was up by 36.6 per cent.
TRREB reports that new listings followed a similar track – down by 8.4 per cent compared to March 2021, but more than triple the number of new listings reported in April 2020. Compared to the ten-year new listings average for the April 2010 to April 2019 period, the April 2021 new listings count was up by 18.3 per cent.
“While sales remained very strong last month, many REALTORS® noted a marked slowing in both the number of transactions and the number of new listings. It makes sense that we had a pullback in market activity compared to March. We’ve experienced a torrid pace of home sales since the summer of 2020 while seeing little in the way of population growth. We may be starting to exhaust the pool of potential buyers within the existing GTA population. Over the long term, sustained growth in sales requires sustained growth in population,” said TRREB President Lisa Patel.
The MLS® Home Price Index Composite benchmark was up by 17.8 per cent year-over-year. The Composite benchmark also increased on a monthly basis, but the pace of monthly growth decelerated. The average selling price of $1,090,992 was up by 33 per cent compared to April 2020, but was basically flat relative to March 2021. This was in contrast to most years in the past when the average selling price increased between March and April.
“Despite a modest slowing in market activity in April compared to March, selling prices for all major home types remained very high. Low borrowing costs during COVID-19 clearly had an impact on the demand for and price of ownership housing. While the pace of price growth could moderate in the coming months, home prices will likely continue on the upward trend. Renewed population growth over the next year coupled with a persistent lack of new inventory will underpin home price appreciation,” said TRREB Chief Market Analyst Jason Mercer.
“All levels of government – most recently the federal Minister of Finance – have acknowledged that longterm housing affordability in Canada, including the GTA, will be predicated on the ability to bring more supply on line. With the federal, provincial, and municipal governments on the same page, we need to see a coordinated and collaborative effort to streamline the development approvals process to pave the way for more ownership and rental housing,” said TRREB CEO John DiMichele.
Cynical side of me thinks there's been a lot of calls for action and reform due to 🔥 market, so maybe TRREB wants to calm people down to take some of the heat off the industry. The 13,663 sales this month were still the second highest month ever, and highest April (by 11%). /5 pic.twitter.com/5v997QcU1r
— Scott Ingram CPA, CA (@areacode416) May 5, 2021
So no doubt about it, it was a big month. But "less nutty" than March. 🥜
Note that Avg Prices are now 19% higher than the April 2017 peak of peaks ($1091K vs $918K). /7
— Scott Ingram CPA, CA (@areacode416) May 5, 2021
My theory is that since Jan, Feb, Mar (and Apr) were all monthly records for sales, it was a case of "early spring" and people had nothing better to do in pandemic so instead of waiting around for April/May/June to buy, were looking early. Or unsuccessful fall buyers didn't… /9
— Scott Ingram CPA, CA (@areacode416) May 5, 2021
2016 was so far ahead of other years as far as sales transactions (12% higher than 2nd highest month ever). So to be 37% above THAT is quite something. But that year started hot and continued hot into the first 3 months of 2017. Wild at nearly 50% of 2020 sales after 4 mos. /11 pic.twitter.com/EwVUdtMpLZ
— Scott Ingram CPA, CA (@areacode416) May 5, 2021
Articles about Toronto'w cooling housing market are focusing on the aggregate statistics which are dominated by low-rise houses (which are still hot, just not as hot)
If you look at the condo market, it's on fire. Prices are up more than 10% since January and at an all time high
— John Pasalis (@JohnPasalis) May 5, 2021
1/Taking a look at numbers for April which is supposed to be the highest volume month for GTA RE shows March was busier with 5251 sales vs 4800 sales in April. Don’t usually see this. #torontorealestate pic.twitter.com/iUDHLWGoKy
— Gus Papaioannou 🇨🇦🏡🏢 (@Smarter_RE) May 3, 2021
3/ Still, we are very much in a sellers market, some homes still getting bullies, condos especially, listings are still at or under 1 month supply to selling out of all homes in GTA which is very competitive, but we seem to b heading to more inventory towards summer. pic.twitter.com/gJMsKCIdsh
— Gus Papaioannou 🇨🇦🏡🏢 (@Smarter_RE) May 3, 2021
5/ I do think inventory will rise slightly and we will see slightly less competition and bidding wars but otherwise it will stay steady going into fall as long as inventory stays under 3 months which we have not been to since April 2020.
All charts via https://t.co/Eo4uhcCe7F
— Gus Papaioannou 🇨🇦🏡🏢 (@Smarter_RE) May 3, 2021