Toronto home sales and prices up from last June, down from May

Toronto homebuyers who snapped up a property last month paid more on average than they did a year ago but less than they would have if they closed the deal in May, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said Thursday.

The Ontario housing board made the same observation about last month’s sales figures and attributed the trends to a mix of market conditions that have left interest in buying a home high but mortgage rates tough to grapple with and supply tight.

“Home sales were hampered last month by uncertainty surrounding the Bank of Canada’s outlook on inflation and interest rates,” Paul Baron, the board’s president, said in a press release.

“Furthermore, a persistent lack of inventory likely sidelined some willing buyers because they couldn’t find a home meeting their needs. Simply put, you can’t buy what is not available.”

While 2023 opened with buyers sidelined as interest rates climbed and prospective sellers spooked from selling their homes because there were fewer bidding wars, recent months started to suggest the market was rebounding.

From February to May, average prices and sales ticked up once more and sellers started to have the confidence to list their homes again.

June’s numbers have broken away from the trend.

The average home sold for $1,182,120 last month, up 3.2% from June 2022. However, the price was below the average of $1,195,929 that homes went for in May.

Prices of detached, semi-detached and townhouse properties were up on a year-over-year basis across both the suburban 905 area code and the urban 416.

Condo apartments were a different story, with prices dropping on average by 1.1% from last year. The change was meagre — a mere 0.2% in the 416 — but higher in the 905, where it dropped by 1.1%.

Across the entire region, the board found sales totalled 7,481, compared with 6,422 the June before and 8,997 in May.

Detached sales were up 13.3% to 3,377 year-over-year, while semi-detached properties rose 7.4% to 678 in the same period. Townhouses were up 13.1% at 1,233 and condo apartments climbed 27.2% to 2,122.

New listings across the market totalled 15,865, down about 3% from the prior June.

The numbers came a day after the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver shared that last month’s home prices ticked up from May as prospective homebuyers faced a dearth of supply in the region.

The area’s composite benchmark sat at more than $1.2 million last month, down 2.4% from June 2022 but up 1.3% from May.

Sales in the market totalled 2,988 last month, a 21.1% increase from a year ago.

New listings hit 5,348 last month compared with 5,278 in June 2022.