The Greater Toronto Area’s housing market “continues to fire on all cylinders” and shows little sign of slowing down despite a shortage of available listings, according to a new report.
“Without a serious influx of new listings to ease the upward pressure on pricing in the coming months, the market will likely continue on this upward trajectory,” says Christopher Alexander, senior vice president of Re/Max Canada.
With interest rates at historic lows, first-time buyers are scrambling to get into the market before homeownership is beyond their financial reach, but just six of the 60 TRREB communities examined in the RE/MAX 2021 Hot Pocket Communities Report offered single-detached homes under $1 million. Compare that to 18 communities during the same period in 2020 and 28 in 2019. All six markets are in the 905-area code and just one – Georgina – is in York Region.
Here’s how the average price of single-detached properties in York stacks up: Aurora ($1.5 million), East Gwillimbury ($1.3 million), Georgina ($860,000), King ($2.18 million), Markham ($1.7), Newmarket ($1.2 million), Richmond Hill ($1.8 million), Vaughan ($1.7 million) and Whitchurch-Stouffville ($1.47 million).
Re/Max reports just 11,297 active listings in June – the lowest level for that month in at least a decade and down 35 per cent from the 10-year average of 17,260. As a result, the average price for single-detached homes soared, with values in almost 97 per cent of TRREB communities well-ahead of the same period last year. Nearly half reported an increase of 25 per cent or more compared year over year.
Homebuyers who are trading up are likely behind the push for housing in the 416-area code. Communities bordering the 416-area code – including Markham and Vaughan – have experienced a serious uptick in sales in the first half of the year compared to one year ago as well. The surge shows no signs of slowing down. “The Bank of Canada is committed to holding interest rates at current historically low levels for at least another year,” Alexander says. “Immigration is expected to bring another 1.2 million permanent residents to the country over the next three years.”
