Average Price of a New Detached House in Toronto Now $1.24 Million
The average price of a new detached house in the Toronto region has risen a staggering 27 per cent, or $258,000, in the last year to an average of $1.24 million, according to the latest statistics released by Altus Data Solutions for the Building and Land Development Association (BILD).
Theclimb in pricesthat has become a regular feature of the new and resale residential real estate scene come as the supply of new builds hits a 16-year record low.
“If you look 10 years ago there were double the amount of new homes available to purchase in builder inventories than there were at the end of November,” said BILD vice-president Michelle Noble.
There were 15,184 new homes available in the Toronto region at the end of November, about half the 31,150 inventory at the same time in 2006.
Only 13 per cent of new homes on the market at the end of last month were low-rise homes, and, of the 2,036 low-rise units, only 789 were detached.
The new home numbers come a day after RBC reported that the Toronto region has surpassed Vancouver as the least affordable home market in the country.
Among all categories of new low-rise homes — these include detached and semi-detached homes and townhouses — the average Toronto area price was approaching $1 million. The November average of $977,890 is a 20 per cent increase over the last year.
“The low inventory story is not only about low-rise,” said Altus executive vice-president Patricia Arsenault.
“Highrise inventories have been on a downward path over the last three years,” she said in a news release.
The size of condos is rising, however, to 820 sq. ft. on average from about 775 sq. ft. a year ago.
Sixty per cent of the 43,651 new homes sold in the region this year were highrise condos, according to the research. The average sales price of those was $493,137.
While the number of highrise sales rose 24 per cent this year to date, the number of low-rise home sales declined 9 per cent over the last 11 months.
BILD attributes the declining supply and climbing prices to continued demand for traditional low-rise homes in the face of government land use policies designed to curb urban sprawl.
Noble wouldn’t predict whether prices would rise at a similar rate next year. But supply will continue to be a challenge and that typically impacts prices, she said.
“We’re continuing to face issues around approvals, challenges in terms of following (land use) policies. That’s not all of a sudden going to change,” said Noble.
Project approvals are increasingly complicated, builders are confronting municipal zoning that hasn’t kept pace with provincial land use policies designed to encourage greater population densities, and, said Noble, “We’re seeing NIMBYism everywhere.”
Where new homes sold in November
Toronto: 2,100, up from 2,068 last November
York Region: 1,153, up from 698, November 2015
Halton Region: 496, down from 662, the same month last year
Peel Region: 240, down from 636 last November
Durham Region: 228, down from 610 in November 2015
Source: Altus Group for the Building and Land Development Association