Decline in sales continues

Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 7,570 sales in July 2012, representing a decline of 1.5% compared to July 2011. The decline was most pronounced in the condominium apartment segment (down by 13%) and semi-detached houses (14% decline) in the City of Toronto. Total sales in the rest of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) were up compared to the same period last year.

It’s interesting that though sales were down, new listings were up 11.9% and total active listings are up 16%. This means that supply increased while demand slightly decreased. Well normally this would result in price decrease, but not yet.  The average selling price in July 2012 was $476,947 – up by 4% compared to July 2011. But keep in mind that though prices are still up, the increase is far less than in a month before (up 7.3% vs. year ago) and average over year (7.1% ). This makes July one of the slowest (in terms of price growth month this year.  Of cause there is some effect of new mortgage lending guidelines and the additional upfront cost of the City of Toronto land transfer tax. These factors prompted some households to put their buying decision on hold. But keep an eye on this trend, it might be just summer effect or this might represent general market slowdown if the trend continues.

The only segment that showed price drop was condo apartments in 416-zone (-1%). Detached, semi-detached and townhouses all increase 4-6%. Townhouses in 905 area demonstrated highest increase in number of sales (24%), demonstrating that average price of $357K is still the most popular (i.e. affordable) for an average family.

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