Province’s housing plan having “little impact on the GTA new homes market”, builders’ group says

Press release follows from BILD, the homebuilders’ (and land developers’) association for the Greater Toronto Area…

Toronto, June 23, 2017 – In May, the GTA’s new housing market showed few signs of slowing down, especially the condominium segment, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced today.

Sales of new multi-family homes, condo apartments in high-rise and mid-rise buildings and stacked townhomes, continued to be strong and the prices for available units increased substantially, according to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new-home market intelligence.

Prices of available homes in the low-rise single-family sector were also up but the pace of increase was not as dramatic as in recent months.

“For the new homes market, the Province’s fair housing plan has had little real effect,” says BILD President and CEO Bryan Tuckey. “Prices continue to increase and supply, especially for single-family low-rise homes, continues to be low. The price acceleration in the condo portion of the market is especially worrisome since it not only represents the lion’s share of new housing in the GTA, it’s also making it difficult for condos to remain the affordable option.”

About 86 percent of the 3,902 new homes sold last month were multi-family condo apartments in high-rise and mid-rise buildings and stacked townhomes, while only 14 percent were low-rise single-family homes.

There were 3,357 sales of new condos in May, slightly fewer than a year ago but 61 percent above the 10 year average. The 545 sales of new single-family low-rise homes was a 76 percent drop from last year and 68 percent off the 10 year average.

2017 is proving to be a very strong year for sales of new homes, with record year-to-date sales. Three out of four of the 22,814 new homes purchased in the GTA so far this year were condo apartments.

The average price of available new condo apartments was up more than $30,000 from April. May’s $604,683 average price marked a 33 percent increase from a year ago. The average available unit was 814 square feet and the average price per square foot was $743. A year ago, the average price per square foot was $573.

In May, the average price of available new low-rise single-family homes was $1,222,699, an increase of about $10,000 from April and a 40 percent increase from a year ago.

For the first-time the average asking price for available new townhomes surpassed the million dollar mark. Available new detached homes reached that milestone only 14 months ago, in March 2016. In May, the average asking price for available detached homes in the GTA was $1,942,316, while the average price for available semi-detached was $919,231 and for townhomes was $1,002,220.

The supply of new homes, the number of homes available to buyers in builders’ inventories at the end of the month, increased modestly in May but it was still far below a healthy level and it was 8,000 units less than a year ago.

At the end of May, there were 10,820 new homes available to buyers in the GTA, of which 9,406 were condo apartments and 1,414 were low-rise single-family homes. Last month there were 9,387 new homes available to buyers and a year ago there were 19,209 available in builders’ inventories. In May 2006, there were 29,754 new homes in builders’ inventories, of which 16,420 were low-rise single-family homes.

“The combination of lower sales, some increase in inventory and slower price growth in May compared to April was the first hint we have had of some hesitation among potential buyers of single-family homes,” says Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s Executive Vice President of Research Consulting Services. “But in the condominium apartment sector, it was still full steam ahead in May. Sales were steady and prices posted strong increases, meaning the increase in available inventory in May was not due to wavering demand but rather the burst in new condo project openings. Over 4,900 new units were brought to the market, almost twice as many as in the previous month, and many were in projects that launched near month end.”