November by the Numbers
Toronto Real Estate Board President Larry Cerqua announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 8,547 home sales through TREB's MLS® System in November 2016. This result represented a 16.5 per cent increase compared to November 2015.
For the TREB market area as a whole, sales were up on a year-over-year basis for all major home types. The strongest annual rates of sales growth were experienced for the townhouse and condominium apartment segments.
"Home buying activity remained strong across all market segments in November. However, many would-be home buyers continued to be frustrated by the lack of listings, as annual sales growth once again outstripped growth in new listings. Seller's market conditions translated into robust rates of price growth," said Mr. Cerqua.
The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark was up by 20.3 per cent compared to November 2015. The average selling price at $776,684 was up by 22.7 per cent on a year-over-year basis.
"Recent policy initiatives seeking to address strong home price growth have focused on demand. Going forward, more emphasis needs to be placed on solutions to alleviate the lack of inventory for all home types, especially in the low-rise market segments," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Director of Market Analysis.
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November, for our business, was an incredible month. Our listings sold close to well over asking and we saw incredibly tight conditions when it came to inventory in both the housing and condo markets. It appears the downtown condo market has finally caught up with the housing market in terms of its white hot pace. I'm expecting to see this trend continue throughout the holiday season and into 2017. It's obvious that these conditions will prevail for the intermediate term (6 months), unless there is some macroeconomic event (political, interest rate hike, etc) that will cause it to change course.
My recommendation for December and January is to enjoy quality time with your family, but to give serious thought to selling your home or investment property. With the HPI (home price index) up 20.3 percent year-over-year, you have to wonder how much higher this market will continue to rise. ~ Marco
