Market Watch - November 2020

TORONTO, ONTARIO, December 3, 2020 – The record pace of home sales in the fall continued with 8,766 sales reported in November by Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® through the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board’s (TRREB) MLS® System. This result was up by 24.3 per cent compared to November of last year.

Generally speaking, year-over-year growth in sales was stronger for single-family homes in the GTA regions surrounding the City of Toronto, but annual single-family growth rates remained robust in the ‘416’ area code as well.

“Home buyers continued to take advantage of very low borrowing costs in November, especially those looking to buy some form of single-family home. Competition between buyers for ground-oriented homes has been extremely strong in many neighbourhoods throughout the GTA, which has continued to support double-digit annual rates of price growth,” said Lisa Patel, TRREB President.

The MLS® HPI Composite Benchmark was up by 10.6 per cent in November 2020 compared to November 2019. The average selling price for all home types combined was up by 13.3 per cent to $955,615.

Market conditions tightened in many single-family market segments in November, resulting in double-digit year-over-year increases in average selling prices for detached houses, semi-detached houses and townhouses.

In contrast to the single-family market segments, buyers continued to benefit from much more choice in the condominium apartment market compared to last year, particularly in the City of Toronto. The number of new condominium apartment listings in November was almost double that reported in November of last year. More options in the condo apartment market translated into a small year-over-year decline in the average condominium apartment selling price in the ‘416’ area code.

“The condominium apartment market is certainly more balanced than in previous years, with some buyers benefitting from lower selling prices compared to last year. However, this may be somewhat of a short-term phenomenon. Once we move into the post-COVID period, we will start to see a resumption of population growth, both from immigration and a return of non-permanent residents. This will lead to an increase in demand for condominium apartments in the ownership and rental markets,” said Jason Mercer, TRREB Chief Market Analyst.