The number of homes sold in Toronto and the surrounding area fell in 2018, along with the number of new listings hitting the market, as homebuyers and sellers grappled with a new reality of higher interest rates and stricter mortgage rules. The Toronto Real Estate Board says there were 77,426 residential transactions recorded through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system last year, down 16.1 per cent from 92,263 sales in 2017. Total new listings entered into TREB's MLS® System were down by 12.7 per cent over the same period to 155,823.
TREB says the number of sales fell 22.5 per cent in December to 3,781, down from 4,876 in the same month a year earlier.
The overall average selling price for 2018 transactions, at $787,300, was down by 4.3 per cent year-over-year for all home types combined across the TREB market area.
Home prices were up very slightly in the City of Toronto and down in the surrounding GTA regions. This dichotomy reflects the fact that the condominium apartment segment, which accounted for a large proportion of sales in the City of Toronto, performed better from a pricing perspective than the detached market segment. The average price for condominium apartment sales across the TREB market area was up by 7.8 per cent year-over-year.
The average sale price in December rose slightly by 2.1 per cent to $750,180 from $734,847 when compared to December 2017. The average price for a detached home in Toronto last month was down eight per cent year over year to $1.14 million, and down 2.2 per cent to $891,095 in the surrounding areas.
Other property types — semi-detached, townhouse and condo apartments — all saw price increases ranging from 3.2 to 9.9 per cent in December in both Toronto and the GTA.
After spiking in 2017, new listings receded markedly in 2018. In many neighbourhoods, despite fewer sales from a historic perspective, some buyers still struggled to find a home meeting their needs. The result was a resumption of a moderate year-over-year pace of home price growth in the second half of the year. Price growth was strongest for less-expensive home types, as many home buyers sought more affordable home ownership options.
Homeowners staying put rather than attempting to cash on previous gains appear to be a factor in the decline in sales in Toronto with new listings down 13 per cent for the year and 32 per cent in December.
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