Record year for Toronto home sales
Steve Randall
Other
The Toronto Real Estate Board reported its second best sales for December in 2015, which completed a record breaking year for the region’s realtors. MLS sales in the GTA of 4,945 in December took the year’s total to 101,299, a rise of 9.2 per cent over 2014. All major home types saw increases and TREB president Mark McLean commented that a strong overall economy and low mortgage rates encouraged existing and first-time buyers to buy, confident of affordability. He said that inventory restricted sales though: “If the market had benefitted from more listings, the 2015 sales total would have been greater. As it stands, we begin 2016 with a substantial amount of pent-up demand.”
The average selling price for 2015 as a whole was $622,217 – up 9.8 per cent compared to $566,624 in 2014. Low rise homes were the driver of the price rises but condos also gained by above-inflation amounts. “Despite stricter mortgage lending guidelines and the possibility of slightly higher borrowing costs, on average, there will be many buyers who remain upbeat on the purchase of ownership housing,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis.
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