Low-rise market suffers from low supply

Building Industry and Land Development Association

GREATER TORONTO, Aug. 21, 2012 /CNW/ - New home buyers in the GTA purchased 2,266 new homes and condominiums this July, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) reported today.

According to RealNet Canada Inc., BILD's official source of new home market intelligence, the 1,415 new condominiums sold across the GTA in July are slightly more than the long-term average for that month. Meanwhile, sales of new low-rise homes have dropped to less than half of the long-term average at 851.

"The Province of Ontario's recent emphasis on intensification has resulted in a shortage of land supply, bringing inventory levels in the low-rise sector to record-low levels," explained BILD President and CEO Bryan Tuckey. "You can't sell what you don't have, and while the high-rise sector is there to help satisfy demand, new home buyers in the GTA end up suffering from a lack of options when it comes to housing type."

The lack of new low-rise housing supply in the market has reduced detached, semi-detached and townhome sales to just 37 per cent of total new homes sold in the GTA this July.

The RealNet New Home Price Index currently shows a price gap of more than $175,000 between high-rise and low-rise, with the average cost of a low-rise home in the GTA up to $613,090.

A statistical backgrounder on new home sales in July 2012 can be found here. Contact Andrei Zaretski at [email protected] or Amy Lazar at [email protected] for more information.

July '12	Low Rise			High Rise			Total
Region	2010	2011	2012	2010	2011	2012	2010	2011	2012
Durham	179	178	124	2	4	20	181	182	144
Halton	54	213	120	21	66	41	75	279	161
Peel	162	261	350	333	61	289	495	322	639
Toronto	42	73	49	662	1,065	882	704	1,138	931
York	283	473	208	220	420	183	503	893	391
GTA	720	1,198	851	1,238	1,616	1,415	1,958	2,814	2,266
Jan-July	10,213	10,829	10,102	11,418	16,089	12,906	21,631	26,918	23,008

Source: RealNet Canada Inc.

With more than 1,375 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.

PDF available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2012/08/21/20120821_C8523_DOC_EN_17123.pdf

SOURCE: Building Industry and Land Development Association

Amy Lazar 
Manager, Communications                                                  
416-391-3452 or 416-543-3903                                              
[email protected]                                                         

Andrei Zaretski
Manager, Marketing & Media Relations
416-391-3450 or 416-843-4898
[email protected]