WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE REAL ESTATE MARKET?

Toronto Regional Real Estate Board President Lisa Patel announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 8,701 sales through TRREB’s MLS® System in June 2020. This result represented a very substantial increase over the May 2020 sales result, both on an actual (+89%) and seasonally-adjusted basis (+84%), and was only down by 1.4% compared to June 2019. Year-over-year growth in sales was reported in some areas and market segments. Especially notable were the detached and townhouse market segments in the GTA regions surrounding the City of Toronto. New listings were up slightly on a year-over-year basis by 2.1%. However, active listings on TRREB’s MLS® System at the end of June 2020 were down by 28.8% (compared to June 2019). Growth in new listings will need to outstrip growth in sales for a number of months before active listings approach last year’s levels. The MLS® Home Price Index Composite Benchmark was up by 8.2% year-over-year in June. The average selling price for all home types combined was $930,869 – up by 11.9% compared to June 2019. The actual and seasonally-adjusted average selling price was also up substantially, compared to May 2020, by 7.8% and 9.8% respectively. Average and benchmark selling prices were up year-over-year for all major home types. The strongest average annual rates of price growth were experienced in the detached and semi-detached market segments in the City of Toronto at 14.3% and 22% respectively. This, coupled with the fact that average selling price growth outstripped growth in the MLS® HPI benchmarks, points to a resurgence in the higher-end market segments.