Housing strength now concentrated in Ontario, data suggest

Latest housing data pointed at Toronto, in particular, as a main driver of sales activity and price growth

Housing strength now concentrated in Ontario, data suggest
As Vancouver smarted from its greatest 3-month decline in home prices since 2012, latest housing data suggested that Ontario is now the main contributor of strength and activity to Canada’s residential real estate sector.
 
Fresh data from Teranet noted that Toronto—which saw 20 per cent growth in housing sale prices last year—was one of the only two Canadian markets that exhibited gains in the second half of 2016, along with Victoria.
 
The Canadian Real Estate Association supported this observation, with only Toronto and Victoria showing increases of more than 1 per cent in the quarter ending November 2016, Bloomberg reported.
 
Statistics Canada’s latest study supported these observations, with only 3 of the 13 major markets apart from Ontario posting gains greater than 2 per cent in new construction of low-rise housing.
 
Earlier this month, the Toronto Real Estate Board announced that average home prices in the city have jumped up by 20 per cent year-over-year in December (up to $730,472)—a development that has been accompanied by sustained low levels of inventory in the GTA.
 
Taking into account the ever-increasing demand from would-be buyers, this confluence of factors will keep up Toronto’s status as one of the country’s strongest seller’s markets, the Board added.


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