Toronto home prices May 2024. May Sales Slump -21.7% 📉🏡 Toronto real estate agent with the best customer reviews

May Sales Slump -21.7% 📉🏡

HOME PRICES

🏡 Average home prices throughout the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) were all negative on an annual comparison, with the average home down by -2.5% compared to last year May 2023. The housing sector with the biggest drop in prices was townhouses which saw a -5.6% annual decrease, while semi-detached homes performed the best with a -2.0% annual price decrease.

While there are a few housing sectors vastly outperforming the average market (e.g. semi-detached homes in Kingsview Village - The Westway experienced a +10.54% price increase over the past year), most freehold and condo markets are still in the negative as a result of ongoing high mortgage interest rates and a dramatic surge in housing inventory (e.g. Hoggs Hollow & Bridle Path semi-detached homes experienced an -8.71% decrease in prices over the past year). 

SALES VOLUMES

📊 May saw a sales slump in GTA with sales volumes down by a significant -21.7% compared to last year's Spring. 

Semi-detached homes in the suburbs experienced the most challenges with a -31.5% decrease in sales on an annual comparison, while interestingly, semi-detached homes in Toronto performed the best with a slight -3.5% yearly decrease in sales. 

Two driving forces led to lower sales volumes in May: (1) the dramatic surge of properties that were listed for sale in May and (2) the ongoing high mortgage interest rates

INVENTORY

📉  The number of properties for sale in the GTA surged dramatically by +83.3% compared to May 2023. Despite current buyers on the market having come to terms with the high mortgage interest rates, with sales down by -21.7% and inventory up by +83.3%, May was an extremely challenging month for the vast majority of sellers. The last time the GTA saw inventory this high for the month of May, in the 21,000 range, was fifteen years ago in May 2009  

THIS IS THE IDEAL MARKET FOR

Taking into account the various market factors, most GTA neighbourhoods are leaning in favour of buyers. This trend will likely stay for the duration of the summer since it will take a bit of time before the dramatic surge of housing inventory is absorbed by buyers entering the market. 

Our current market offers a phenomenal window of opportunity for buyers & investors with a long-term hold strategy in mind (holding your real estate asset for at least a few years to help ensure you're in a net profitable position). Now, with the Bank of Canada having just announced the first rate cut since March 2020, this provides some relief with slightly lower carrying costs and slightly higher mortgage pre-approvals. Also, since housing inventory is at an all-time high with numbers we have not seen for over a decade, in most neighbourhoods throughout the GTA buyers will benefit from a more relaxed shopping experience: currently, there are a number of fantastic opportunities at prices we have not seen since 2020-2021. Considering the historical price trends in the GTA real estate market, it is highly probable that those of us seizing the investment opportunities this year will see strong returns on our investments only in a couple of years.