Demand for new homes continues to outpace supply and drive prices in the GTA

GREATER TORONTO, May 24, 2017 /CNW/ - In April, demand for new homes in the GTA continued to outpace supply, and prices for all types of available new homes were up significantly, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced today.

There were 4,680 new homes sold in the GTA last month, an increase of seven percent from a year ago according to Altus Group, BILD's official source for new-home market intelligence. Year-to-date sales of new homes in the GTA have been exceptionally strong. In the first four months of this year, 17,977 new homes were sold, 24 percent more than during the same period in 2016 and 48 percent above the 10-year average.

Meanwhile the supply of new homes, the number of homes available to buyers in builders' inventories at the end of the month, continued its unabated decline.  At the end of April, there were only 9,387 new homes available to buyers across the entire GTA. This is the first time that overall inventory has dropped below 10,000 units since BILD and Altus Group began tracking such data more than a decade ago. A year ago there were 21,056 new homes available for purchase in builders' inventories.

"Builders are not able to keep up with the demand for new housing," says BILD President and CEO Bryan Tuckey. "The product that builders are able to bring to the market is quickly purchased and prices for all types of new homes keep increasing as a result."

In April, the average price of available new low-rise single-family homes, which includes detached, semi-detached and townhomes, was $1,212,297. That is 40 percent more than the average price of such homes in April 2016. 

Last month, the average asking price for available new detached homes in the GTA reached $1,810,232, while the average for available semi-detached was $856,036 and for townhomes was $946,496.

Prices of available new multi-family homes, condo apartments in high-rise and mid-rise buildings and stacked townhomes, were up nearly 24 percent from a year ago. The average price of available units hit $570,226 in April, with the average price per square foot at $685, and the average unit size 832 square feet.

Prices of available condo apartments were up due to both an increase in average unit size and a substantial increase in average price per square foot. Average price per square foot was up 17.5 percent from a year ago.

"The declining number of new homes available to purchase is not a question of less product being brought to market," says Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group's Executive Vice President of Research Consulting Services.  "There were more than 11,000 units in projects opened in the first four months of this year – that's about one-third higher than the average for the previous two years. But new product is selling well. For example, for projects opened in the first quarter of this year, only one in five units were still available to purchase at the end of April; for the same period in 2015, that proportion was about double (two in five)."                                                                                             

Approximately 70 per cent of the new homes that were purchased in the GTA in April (3,265 units) were multi-family condo apartments in high-rise, mid-rise or stacked townhomes, while 30 percent (1,415) were new single-family low-rise homes including detached, semi-detached and townhomes.

Single-family low-rise sales were down 39 per cent from a year ago while sales of multi-family condo apartments were up 61 percent from April 2016.

April New-Home Sales by Municipality:

April '17	High-Rise			Low-Rise			Total
Region	2017	2016	2015	2017	2016	2015	2017	2016	2015
Durham	19	33	16	362	356	441	381	389	457
Halton	129	87	123	84	342	476	213	429	599
Peel	872	170	106	474	908	822	1,346	1,078	928
Toronto	1,621	1,391	1,262	52	119	88	1,673	1,510	1,350
York	624	351	294	443	611	868	1,067	962	1,162
GTA	3,265	2,032	1,801	1,415	2,336	2,695	4,680	4,368	4,496

Source: Altus Group

With more than 1,450 members, BILD is the voice of the land development, home building and professional renovation industry in the Greater Toronto Area.  BILD is proudly affiliated with the Ontario and Canadian Home Builders' Associations.

SOURCE Building Industry and Land Development Association

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