Toronto Market Watch: February 2013

GTA REALTORS® reported 5,759 sales through the TorontoMLS system in February 2013 – a decline of 15 per cent in comparison to February 2012.  It should be noted that 2012 was a leap year with one extra day in February.  A 28 day year-over-year sales comparison resulted in a lesser decline of 10.5 per cent.

The average selling price for February 2013 was $510,580 – up two per cent in comparison to February 2012.

“The share of sales and dollar volume accounted for by luxury detached homes in the City of Toronto was lower this February compared to last.  This contributed to a more modest pace of overall average price growth for the GTA as a whole,” said Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) President Ann Hannah.

“Stricter mortgage lending guidelines that precluded government backed mortgages on homes sold for over one million dollars and the City of Toronto’s additional upfront land transfer tax arguably played a role in the slower pace of luxury detached home sales,” added Ms. Hannah.

The MLS® HPI Composite Benchmark price covering all major home types eliminates fluctuations in price growth due to changes in sales mix.  The Composite Benchmark price was up by more than three per cent on a year-over-year basis in February.

“We will undoubtedly experience some volatility in price growth for some market segments in 2013.  However, months of inventory in the low-rise market segment will remain low, resulting in average price growth above three per cent for the TREB market area this year.  Our current average price forecast is $515,000 for all home types combined in 2013,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.

Summary of TorontoMLS Sales and Average Price – FEBRUARY 2013
	2013							2012
	Sales		Average Price			New Listings		Sales	Average Price			New Listings
City of Toronto ("416")	2,189		$552,014			4,326		2,617	$552,684			5,125
Rest of GTA ("905")	3,570		$485,174			6,726		4,192	$467,514			7,467
GTA	5,759		$510,580			11,052		6,809	$500,249			12,592
TorontoMLS Sales & Average Price  By Home Type – FEBRUARY 2013
		Sales					Average Price
		416		905	Total		416			905	Total
Detached		749		2,025	2,774		823,329			582,777	647,728
Yr./Yr. % Change		-16.9%		-15.8%	-16.1%		0.1%			3.4%	2.2%
Semi-Detached		234		382	616		618,777			401,981	484,335
Yr./Yr. % Change		-13.3%		-15.9%	-14.9%		6.2%			4.4%	5.6%
Townhouse		230		682	912		450,440			371,640	391,513
Yr./Yr. % Change		-0.4%		-5.9%	-4.6%		4.9%			7.1%	6.7%
Condo Apartment		953		399	1,352		352,614			281,398	331,597
Yr./Yr. % Change		-20.0%		-20.7%	-20.2%		-4.7%			4.3%	-2.5%