In many aspects of life, more money means more choices.

In real estate, more money typically means better choices – but not necessarily more choices.

Whether is is builders focusing on a specific budget for the new properties they develop or the resale market responding to demand for certain types of properties at certain price points, real estate markets develop their own dynamics for supply.

We did an analysis of the levels of supply for different types of homes across the GTA, looking at number of available properties across 20 price bands, ranging from $500,000 to $3,000,000.  We did for the four main types of real estate, namely:

• Detached Houses
• Semi-Detached Houses
• Townhomes
• Condo Apartments

We did this using market data for available properties as of Friday, October 22, 2021.  Even if you’re reading this on that same day, the data that we used has already started to change.  Properties are selling and new properties are being added, and as that happens, the statistics change.

Despite the fact that the data changes quickly, this sort of analysis is very helpful in understanding what properties are available – and at what price point.  We’ve presented the data in chart form below and we’ve highlighted the most interesting and surprising results from this review.

Let’s get into it with the big picture review for all housing types.

How many options are for sale in each price band?

The chart below shows us exactly how many properties are available in the GTA on October 22, 2021, across twenty price bands.  From $500K to $3M, we’ve tracked down how many properties are for sale in each $100K price band.  Here’s the results.

Here’s a few surprising results from the above chart:

• Across the GTA you can see that your most options are available under the $1M mark.  That may be surprising given the media focus on how high the average sale price and it shows us that using the average can be quite misleading.  Yes, there are lots of properties that are for sale that over $1M and even a decent amount for sale in the $2M to $3M range, but your the most choices available all fall within the five lowest price bands.
• The lowest number of choices in the GTA are for people looking to buy in the $2M to $2.1M price point.  There are just 51 choices as of today.
• There’s a big jump in the number of properties available at the $2.9M price point.  If you’re looking in the $2.5 to $2.8M range you have in the 50 to 80 range of options but at $2.9M you have 119 options as of today.

How many detached houses are for sale in each price band?

Now let’s look at the number of detached houses that are available across the GTA today in each $100K price band from $500K up to $3M.

There are some very surprising results from the above chart, namely:

• The most amount of detached homes (205) are available if your budget is $1.4M to $1.5M.
• We see spikes in the number of available detached houses right before we cross over to the next million range.  There is an additional 60 homes available at $900K compared to $800K, an additional 26 at $1.9M compared to $1.8M and a whopping 59 more at $2.9M compared to $2.8M.
• Yes, it’s hard to buy a detached home in the GTA for $500K (only 27 are for sale in that price band) but we see other price bands ($2M, $2.7M, $2.8M) where there are under 50 available.

How many semi-detached houses are for sale in each price band?

While semi-detached homes remain relatively rare across the GTA, we do have a number of options available for sale.

The above chart looks a lot different than detached homes and here are some surprising aspects:

• If you’ve got a budget of $800K to $1M and you’re looking for a semi-detached, you’ve got tons of choices, with the top two highest amounts available in these price bands.
• Once you hit the $1.9M range, semi-detached houses are quite rare, with under 10 available in all of the subsequent price bands.
• It’s easier to buy a semi-detached house if your budget is $2.3M than if it is $2.2M or $2.4M.  You’ve got one option in each of those price bands and five in the $2.3M price band.

How many townhouses are for sale in each price band?

While freehold townhouses are often referenced as the “bottom” of the freehold property ladder, there are more and more luxury versions of townhomes available that rival semis or even detached in terms of costs.

When we look at the above chart, we see some surprising results:

• The peak in terms of available townhomes is the same price band as the peak of available semi-detached houses, namely $800K to $900K.
• The price bands from $1M to $1.4M are quite similar in terms of availability, with between 23 to 27 townhomes in each.
• While there are no price bands with 10 or more options over the $1.6M, we still have 46 townhouses for sale across those pricey ranges.

How many condo apartments are for sale in each price band?

From freehold properties, we turn to condo apartments.

Just like with our earlier charts, the data around condo apartments for sale right now has some real surprises:

• More than 80% of available condo apartments in the GTA are below $1M.  If you’re looking for a condo apartment above the $1M mark, your number of options drops dramatically.
• There are spikes in number of available condo apartments at $1.1M and $1.7M, meaning that if you’re selling in those price bands, you’ve got more competition than units listed for $100K lower.
• While the $2.7M to $2.9M price bands have the lowest number of options (only 4 in each), if you’re looking for a condo at just over $2M, you’ve only got six options as of today.

While the above charts and data are from a specific moment in time (October 22, 2021) and the results will change over time, there are definitely some surprising points amongst the data.

The big takeaway is that regardless of your specific list of desired features and attributes, increasing your budget doesn’t necessarily give you more choices.  There are specific price bands for specific types of housing where you will have more or less options when you go up or down a bit on the price range.

If you’re considering buying a home, it makes sense to work with agents who know how to analyze market data to tell you when and where the most choices can be found.  If you want to talk about your search, get in touch.