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The Greater Toronto area's condominium housing market continues to show signs of strength, evidenced by today's release of Q2 2016 market figures from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB). A total of 8,965 condominium apartment sales were reported between the start of April and the end of June, marking a substantial year-over year increase of 17.4%.
“TREB REALTOR® Members are involved in all aspects of the condominium apartment market in the Greater Toronto Area, from working with buyers at the pre-construction stage of development through to the resale or rental of existing units", said Toronto Real Estate Board President Larry Cerqua in a prepared statement. "While we have certainly seen a lot of condo construction over the last few years, project completions have not resulted in a glut of inventory. Over the past year, we have actually experienced tighter market conditions and accelerating annual rates of price growth.”
The average selling price of a condo unit reached $415,326 in Q2 2016, marking a 7.1% increase when compared with the same period in 2015. Similarly, the MLS® Home Price Index apartment benchmark price had increased by 7.9% as of the end of June.
Conversely, the rental condominium market has experienced a slight year-over-year dip of 2.7%, resulting in an overall decline in the number of listings when compared with the second quarter of 2015. While the supply is declining, demand appears to be on the rise, with the average one-bedroom condominium apartment rent rising to $1,710 per month, a 6.4% increase over Q2 2015. Average rents for two-bedroom units also saw an increase since 2015, rising 4.1% to an average of $2,330 per month. Despite the decline in supply, the number of rental transactions was similar to the number experienced during Q2 of 2015.
“Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® continued to facilitate a large number of rental transactions in the second quarter, as investor-held condo apartments remained an important component of the overall rental supply in the GTA. If the market had benefitted from more listings in Q2, the number of rentals would have likely been above last year’s level,” wrote Mr. Cerqua.
