Market continues its impossible growth

Brokers in one market are surely reaping the rewards as the market continues to boom, but how long is it expected to last?

Brokers in one market are surely reaping the rewards as the market continues to boom, but how long is it expected to last?

"The sales result for the first two weeks of September (in Toronto) showed strong growth for most major home types, indicating that home buyers continue to find homes that meet their needs and budgets,” Toronto Real Estate Board President Paul Etherington said. “With a lot of buyers active in the marketplace relative to the number of homes for sale, average selling prices were up strongly for most low-rise and high-rise home ownership options."

Only halfway through September and 3,297 homes have sold, which accounts for an 8.3 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. The boom may be a result of a deferred sales spike – as homeowners who put off purchasing over the winter pulling the trigger over the course of the summer – which isn’t expected to last much longer, according to CREA.

“The boost from deferred sales is still expected to prove transitory,” Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist said about the association’s latest stats, released Monday. “While national activity has yet to cool, sales were down from the previous month in the majority of Canada’s local markets, which may be early evidence that the transitory boost is fading. That said, low interest rates will continue to support housing affordability and sales activity.”

The average price in Toronto, meanwhile, continues to skyrocket, soaring to $562,244 – an 8.5 per cent jump.

"Average prices in the low-rise market segments, including singles, semis and towns, continued to experience the impact of strong competition between buyers,” said Jason Mercer, TREB's Director of Market Analysis. “It is also clear that while the condo apartment market segment remains comparatively better supplied, there are enough buyers relative to available condo listings to prompt very strong average price growth for this type of ownership housing as well."