Tara Deschamps, Canadian Press Published Wednesday, May 4, 2022, 5:21 AM EDT Last Updated: Wednesday, May 4, 2022, 5:21 AM EDT
TORONTO – Potential home buyers saw clear signs of cooling in the Toronto market in April, as the region’s real estate board said sales fell about 41% last year and 27% in a month.
The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said Wednesday that sales in April totaled 8,008 in the region, down 13,613 in the same month last year and 10,939 in March.
The board attributes much of the decline to home buyers who take a break from the market as interest rates rise and reduce their purchasing power.
“It certainly seems that the Bank of Canada is achieving its goal of slowing consumer spending as it fights high inflation,” TRREB President Kevin Krieger said in a statement.
“Agreed mortgage rates have risen sharply over the past four weeks, prompting some buyers to postpone their purchase.”
The drop in sales from the previous year is the largest in the Toronto area, known as 905, and is particularly evident in the individual housing category, the board said.
Sales of detached homes in 905 amounted to 2732, a decrease of over 47% over the previous year, while sales of 1,033 townhouses on the market amounted to 44%. Last month, there were 491 sales of two-family homes in 905, down 40 percent from a year earlier, and sales of 685 apartments fell about 32 percent.
Sales of single-family homes in April in the city of Toronto, which is linked to area code 416, reached 868, down 34 percent from a year earlier, and sales of two-story homes fell 26 percent to 311. months amounted to 335, down 42% from the same month a year earlier, while 1,488 apartments were sold in April, down 35% from the same month in 2021.
The decline in sales also weighed on house prices, which have risen steadily throughout much of the COVID-19 pandemic and have often been fueled by bidding wars and intense competition.
The average home price for April in Greater Toronto reached more than $ 1.2 million, down about $ 1.3 million the previous month.
However, the average price for April is still up about 15% from the previous year, when the average price was over $ 1 million.
“It is expected that there will be enough competition between buyers to support the continued growth of prices compared to 2021, but the annual growth rate will slow in the coming months,” said Jason Mercer, chief market analyst at TRREB, in a statement. .
TRREB will also closely monitor supply after buyers and brokers spent the beginning of the year complaining about the lack of listings and predicting that the spring market will turn things around.
New announcements in April fell about 12 percent to 18,413 from 20,841 in the same month last year, TRREB found.
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