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The housing market in Toronto and the surrounding area continues to remain strong. The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) released the Q3 2016 market figures for the Greater Toronto Area's rental and condominium market, with 8,014 condominium apartment sales, marking a 22.1 per cent increase from a year-over-year basis. During the same time, new condo listings went down by 13.3 per cent. In addition, the number of lease agreements for rental units on the MLS® System went down from 9,629 in Q3 of 2015, to 9,164, a 4.8 per cent drop.
Despite what the numbers show, TREB President Larry Cerqua announced, "[d]emand remains very strong for condominium apartments in the Greater Toronto Area. The key issue in the third quarter was the fact that there was a pronounced decline in the number of units available for rent. The dip in the supply of available rental units can be attributed, at least in part, to fewer condominium project completions during the first three quarters of 2016 compared to last year. This suggests that there were fewer newly completed investor-held units available for rent." The same thing was similarly said about condominium units.
In Q3, the average price of a condo reached $415,643, which is a 9.6 per cent jump from Q3 2015. In a similar fashion, the MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) benchmark price seen a similar increase during Q3. In the City of Toronto, the average cost of a condominium apartment reached $440,096, when compared to Q3 of 2015, $406,094. Jason Mercer, Director of Market Analysis for TREB stated, "[t]he annual rate of condominium apartment price growth has accelerated over the past year as the supply of units available for sale became more constrained while demand remained strong. Condo apartments continue to be an affordable entry point into home ownership for first-time buyers."
One bedroom and two bedroom apartment rentals also rose from last year. Rentals for 1 bedroom units rose to $1,777 per month, a 7.2 per cent increase. Meanwhile, 2 bedroom rental apartments averaged $2,419, which is a 7.9 per cent rise. In a response, Jason Mercer stated, "Conditions in the condominium apartment rental market tightened substantially in the third quarter, with listings down on a much greater basis relative to rental transactions. This means that competition between renters was enhanced, which fed through into average rent increases well-above the rate of inflation."
