Typical GTA new low-rise home now exceeds $900,000

GREATER TORONTO, Aug. 22, 2016 /CNW/ - In July, the average price of a new low-rise home in the GTA surpassed $900,000 for the first time, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced today.

The average price of new detached and semi-detached houses and townhomes was $906,508, a 12 per cent increase from July 2015. Prices have grown more than $100,000 in just 12 months according to Altus Group, BILD's official source for new home market intelligence.

Semi-detached homes showed the strongest price increase, growing by $196,546 in just one year to a new record high of $771,530. For townhomes the average price was $758,434, an increase of $122,491 since July 2015.

The price of single-family detached homes in July was $1,095,910. They first surpassed the $1 million mark in March.

New high-rise homes grow in size and price

The price of high-rise homes in the GTA also reached new heights in July. The $475,764 average is a seven per cent increase from last year and the result of increases in price per square foot and larger suite sizes.

The average price per square foot climbed to $594, another record. Suite sizes for mid and high-rise condo units increased to an average of 801 square feet.

"In previous years, many builders were focusing on offering smaller and more affordable units to help first-time buyers enter the market," said BILD President and CEO Bryan Tuckey. "Recent months have seen the introduction of larger suites to meet the demands of the growing range of buyers who have been priced out of the low-rise market.

"New low-rise home prices have grown exponentially due to limited supply," he added. "Provincial intensification policies, delays in the approvals process and a lack of serviced developable land in the GTA has reduced the amount of new homes coming to the market."

Record-low supply fuels surging prices

The supply of new homes in builders' inventory fell to a 10-year low, with just 17,213 new homes available for sale in all of the GTA as of July 31. This is a 41 per cent decrease from a decade ago, when inventory levels were at 29,238 homes.

Only 1,568 of those homes were ground-related, another record low.  This is less than half the homes available in July 2015, when there were 4,550 and dramatically fewer than the 16,424 available for purchase in July 2006. It is also less than one month of supply based on average 10-year sales trends.

High-rise supply also declined in July, falling to 15,645 units. The most significant decrease was in the pre-construction stage units, which were down 25 per cent from last year to 8,499.

New-home sales peak in 2016

Sales of new homes and condominiums in the first seven months of 2016 were the highest in 10 years. So far this year there were 28,208 homes sold. 

Of those sales, 15,852 were high-rise homes, a new record. That is 36 per cent more than the 10-year average. Low-rise sales have also been stronger than average so far this year at 12,356, but they are down seven per cent from the last year.

New-home sales in July were up 12 per cent from 2015 and nine per cent above the 10-year average with 3,131 transactions. The majority of the sales came from the high-rise market with 2,226 homes sold, a 52 per cent increase since last July. Meanwhile low-rise sales fell to 905 homes in July, down 32 per cent from the previous year.

A detailed breakdown of new-home sales in municipality across the GTA can be found below.

"The industry's biggest challenge is bringing enough new homes to market to satisfy demand," Tuckey said. "Projects are being sold as soon as they come to market, which is driving up prices and reducing choice for new-home purchasers."

July New-Home Sales by Municipality:

July '16	Low Rise			High Rise			Total
Region	2014	2015	2016	2014	2015	2016	2014	2015	2016
Durham	250	214	357	20	21	165	270	235	522
Halton	232	178	43	264	68	77	496	246	120
Peel	390	476	104	52	94	142	442	570	246
Toronto	80	41	98	911	977	1,656	991	1,018	1,754
York	353	431	303	267	301	186	620	732	489
GTA	1,305	1,340	905	1,514	1,461	2,226	2,819	2,801	3,131
Jan-July	11,169	13,268	12,356	12,552	12,662	15,852	23,721	25,930	28,208

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

For additional information or to schedule an interview, contact Andrei Zaretski, Manager of Marketing and Media Relations, at 416-391-3450 or 416-843-4898 or [email protected].