The average price of a resale home in the Toronto area is expected to climb 10 per cent this year over last, eclipsing the $1-million mark for the first time, the Toronto Region Real Estate Board (TRREB) predicts.
That increase would bring the average home price across all housing categories, including condominiums, to $1.025 million, according to TRREB’s Market Year in Review & Outlook 2021 Report containing its annual market outlook, Ipsos consumer polling results, new home and commercial statistics, rental market trends and mortgage market trends.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the flight of Torontonians to the suburbs and beyond and that trend is expected to continue. According to the Ipsos Home Buying Survey of Greater Toronto Area consumers likely to buy a house in 2021 compared to 2020, 35 per expect to buy a home in Toronto down seven), 16 per cent plan to buy in York Region (up five), 15 per cent plan to buy in Peel Region (up two), nine per cent plan to buy in Durham Region (up two) and eight per cent play to buy in Halton Region (up two).
Of those likely buyers, 46 per cent plan to buy a detached home (up four and the first time an increase in that preference has been posted since 2015), 19 per cent plan to purchase a condo (down seven); 18 per cent plan to buy a townhouse or rowhouse (up three) and 15 per cent plan to buy a semi-detached (unchanged). Also, 65 per cent expect to purchase a resale home versus a new home (up seven).
This year is already off to a strong start, with January home sales totalling nearly 7,000 – up more than 50 per cent year over year – and the average selling price up 15.5 per cent to $967,885, TRREB reports. Demand for new single-family homes, meanwhile, has reached levels not seen since 2016 but strong sales have eroded supply, putting upward pressure on prices. In York Region, 6,000 new single-family homes were sold in 2020 – more than the 3,700 new single-family homes sold in the entire Greater Toronto Area in 2018.
