Nothing

There is a scene in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when one of the characters (Principal Rooney) asks the score of the baseball game on TV.  The answer is “Nothing-Nothing” and Rooney responds with “Who’s winning?”  After a moment’s thought, the answer that comes back is “The Bears”.

This scene came to mind today when I read the latest statistics from the Toronto Real Estate Board on housing sales.Without a doubt, there is still very little inventory on the market now for people looking to buy a home.

This situation has given rise to a new tradition amongst Realtors.  We used to trade business cards but now what happens is the first agent says “There is absolutely nothing out there for sale!” and the other agent replies with “I know!  Nothing!” and then we nod wisely at each other.

The mid-month statistics from the Toronto Real Estate Board show that while there might in fact be nothing available, it is more nothing that before.

In the first half of August last year, there were 3,453 sales in the GTA.  In the same time this year (August 1st to 14th, 2015), there were 3,729 sales in the GTA, up about 8%.

So overall, while there still nowhere near enough housing for the demand, there is a bit more than last year.

As always, if we dig down into the numbers, we see the story is a bit different in the City of Toronto proper versus the rest of the GTA.

  • The City of Toronto has seen 1,309 sales in the first half of August this year, compared to 1,268 in the same time last year, up about 3%.
  • The rest of the GTA (Halton, Peel, York, Durham) had 2,420 sales in the first half of August this year, compared to 2,185 last year, which is an increase of around 11%.

Make no mistake, both the city of Toronto and the rest of the GTA are still seeing not enough housing stock for the demand out there.  As a result of this, we are seeing strong price growth in both the 416 and 905 for all housing types.

Average Sales Price

Increase in Sales Price

The biggest price increases in dollar terms and percentage terms were in the City of Toronto proper for detached, townhouse and condos.

The sole exception to this was for semi-detached homes, which saw prices in the 905 area rise by 12.9%, compared to 8.9% in Toronto.  This translates into about a $57,000 price increase in semi-detached average price the 905 area, just beating an approximately $55,000 price increase in Toronto.

With strong price growth in all parts of the GTA and Toronto across all housing types, selling your home now could be a very good move.  On the buying side, it is without a doubt challenging to find the right home at the right price but I have had great success so far this year doing just that.

If you or someone you know are considering a move, I’d love to be responsible for what comes next.

Regards,

Jeff