2016 could be record year for GTA high-rise sales

GREATER TORONTO, Sept. 22, 2016 /CNW/ - Sales of new high-rise homes in the GTA are on pace for a record year, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced today.

As of August 31, 17,949 new high-rise homes had been sold in the GTA, a record for this point in the year. While August is typically a slower sales month, sales this year were unprecedented with 1,880 high-rise units sold according to Altus Group, BILD's official source for new home market intelligence.

August was also a record setting month for low-rise homes with the lowest available supply and the highest prices ever.

"Our industry is building to government intensification policy and we are building at least as many high-rise homes as low-rise homes," said BILD President and CEO Bryan Tuckey. "The supply of low-rise homes – especially single family detached homes – has plummeted in the years since the Growth Plan was introduced, but demand for those types of homes has not diminished. As a result, prices have increased dramatically."

The average price of a new low-rise home, which includes single family detached as well as semi-detached homes and townhomes, was a record $931,506 in August. That is a 16-per-cent increase from a year ago and up considerably from the $393,398 average of June 2006, when the Growth Plan was introduced.

As of August 31, there were just 1,379 new low-rise homes available to purchase across the GTA in builders' inventory, a new record low. This is less than a tenth of the 16,560 that were available for purchase on June 30, 2006.

Last month, the average price of new single family detached homes in the GTA was $1,166,005. In June 2006, a new single detached home was $442,420.

At the end of June 2006, there were 10,823 single family detached homes available for purchase in the GTA. On August 31, this year across the GTA, there were only 592 available for purchase in builder inventories.

"Demand and prices of high-rise homes are also starting to climb as more people are priced out of the low-rise market," Tuckey said.

The average price of new high-rise homes in the GTA in August was a record $480,914. This is seven-per-cent increase from August 2015.

"For much of the last decade, condo prices remained stable because units were getting smaller," Tuckey said. "The price per square foot for condos has been steadily increasing. In the last few months, we have been seeing marked increases in condo-prices because average unit size stopped decreasing."

In August the average size of new high-rise units in the GTA was 808 square feet and the average price per square foot was $595.  In June 2006 the average price per square foot was $344 and the average unit was 913 square feet.

High-rise supply was also down in August, with 14,600 units available for purchase in builder inventories. The decline was mainly in homes in the pre-construction stage due to limited new projects introduced in August, typically a slow month for new launches.

While the majority of August's high-rise sales were in the City of Toronto, a significant amount came from the 905 regions, particularly Peel and York. A detailed table of new-home sales in August broken down by year and region can be seen below.

There were just 491 new low-rise homes sold in August, down 44 per cent from the previous year and marking a 10-year low. Meanwhile low-rise homes in the first eight months of the year recorded 12,956 sales, down nine per cent from August 2015.

August New-Home Sales by Municipality:

August '16	Low Rise			High Rise			Total
Region	2014	2015	2016	2014	2015	2016	2014	2015	2016
Durham	202	113	212	16	72	38	218	185	250
Halton	139	93	59	73	57	178	212	150	237
Peel	359	378	84	53	74	112	412	452	196
Toronto	62	12	11	948	687	1,395	1,010	699	1,406
York	389	282	125	200	188	157	589	470	282
GTA	1,151	878	491	1,290	1,078	1,880	2,441	1,956	2,371
Jan-Aug	12,322	14,163	12,956	13,842	13,743	17,949	26,164	27,906	30,905

Source: Altus Group

With more than 1,450 members, BILD, formed through the merger of the Greater Toronto Home Builders' Association and Urban Development Institute/Ontario, 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.

These results were previously released under the REALNET® Canada name, whose independent and comprehensive data, analyses and insights on the commercial real estate investment and residential development markets is collected and compiled using a nationally consistent research process established in 1995. Going forward they will be released by Altus Group, powered by a proprietary data platform led by Altus Data Solutions Canada. This team is the formal unification of leading Canadian real estate data companies previously acquired by Altus Group, including REALNET® Canada.

A statistical backgrounder is available for viewing

SOURCE Building Industry and Land Development Association

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