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Here is your latest real estate market update for Toronto as we exit the winter and approach the beginning of spring ☀️🏡

The real estate market numbers reviewed in the video were released by the Toronto Real Estate Board and can be viewed here (click to view). 

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Below are the clickable TIMESTAMP links for the video

00:00 - Intro

00:27 - average price increase for all property types combined in the GTA

00:34 - average property price in the GTA

00:42 - housing sector that saw the highest increase in value

1:01 - housing sector that saw the lowest increase in value

1:23 - average price for a fully detached home

1:32 - average price for a semi-detached home

1:41 - average price for a townhouse

1:50 - average price for a condo

1:57 - current months of inventory on the market

2:18 - final thoughts

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Full Video Transcript

Hey guys, it's Karen from Toronto here.

We've got your latest real estate market update, so let's take a look at the numbers together.

The first two months this year has been an incredibly strong seller's market in the GTA with less than one month of inventory on the market. With the exception of last year's record-breaking February month for home sales, this past month was the second-best February in all of Toronto Real Estate Board's history.

The average property price has increased by a huge +27.7% over the past year, bringing the average property price to $1,334,554. 

The housing sector that saw the highest increase on average, were semi-detached homes in the 905 suburbs, with what seems to be an all-time record of +37.5% increase in prices between February 2021 to February 2022. On the other hand, the housing sector that saw the lowest price increase, on average, were also semi-detached homes however, this time in the City of Toronto. And they still saw a significant +14.0% increase in prices over the past year.

Now to put things into perspective, let's look at the average price of a home.

For a fully detached home in Toronto, the average price is $2,073,989. 

A semi-detached home comes in at an average price of $1,499,489.

While a townhouse in Toronto costs an average of $1,131,809.

Now for the condo market, the average Toronto condo is $822,090.

In terms of the supply and demand, there is 0.9 months of inventory on the market. With the number of active listings down by -20.0%, we still expect to see a lot of competition amongst buyers, and the continuing high demand to purchase real estate in the GTA is keeping housing price growth in the double digits.

Here are some final thoughts. Last week was the first time since 2018 that our country increased the mortgage interest rates. And our Canadian government has expressed plans to increase the rate multiple times this year in order to help offset inflation.

Now one thing that the latest Toronto Real Estate Board statistics are not indicating, is that the real estate market activity over the past week and a half has slowed down. Realtors in the GTA, including myself, have noticed a significant slowdown in the number of showings. Many properties that would typically have 5 to 10 showings a day have been seeing around 2 to 5 showings a day. And many freehold properties that would typically have sold within the first 1 to 2 days on the market earlier this year, have now been on the market closer to a week or even a bit longer.

So are we beginning to see a shift in the market? Well, it's a little too early to make that assessment. I'd like to emphasize that although activity levels have slowed down, and the days on market have been a bit longer than usual, property prices are still remaining steady with their appreciation levels. The market can easily pick back up in terms of activity later this week or even next week.

My advice for those who are planning to sell a property this year, is to seriously consider marketing your property for sale before the next possible interest rate increase. With our government planning multiple rate increases this year, and the immediate slowdown we've noticed in buyer activities over this past week and a half, it's an indication that future rate increases this year will further impact the market, this time in favour of buyers.

On the other hand, if you're purchasing a property in the GTA, I strongly encourage submitting a preemptive offer if the listing side is open to receiving them. Now depending on your personal finances and the type of property you're looking to purchase, you may want to consider moving up your time frame to purchase especially if multiple interest rate increases will significantly impact your affordability.

Well, this wraps up our market update. In the meantime, as always, if you have any real estate questions or needs, give us a call.