New single-family home sales continue to outpace last year's levels

NEWS RELEASE
BUILDING INDUSTRY AND LAND DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
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It was a typically quiet August in the GTA new home market this year, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) has announced.

There were 1,400 new home sales in August, according to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence. This was up 19 per cent from August 2018 but still 23 per cent below the 10-year average.

Condominium apartments in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units accounted for 961 new home sales, down 4 per cent from August 2018 and down 12 per cent from the 10-year average.

“August was the first month since March that new condo apartment sales didn’t exceed their 2018 level,” said Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s Executive Vice President, Data Solutions. “Typically very few new projects open in August and this year there were actually none – this played a role in the slightly lower number of new condo sales compared to August last year.”

August saw a decrease in inventory compared to the previous month, to 16,529 units. Remaining inventory includes units in preconstruction projects, in projects currently under construction and in completed buildings.

Single-family home sales, with 439 detached, linked and semi-detached houses and townhouses (excluding stacked townhouses) sold, were up 143 per cent from last August but still down 39 per cent from the 10-year average.

“New single-family home sales outpaced year-earlier levels for the 10th month in a row in August,” said Ms. Arsenault. “But the level of sales remains low in historical terms, with affordability of available product an issue for many would-be buyers.”

The benchmark price of new single-family homes in August was $1,083,358, down 4.1 per cent over the last 12 months. The benchmark price of new condominium apartments was $840,799, up 7.2 per cent over the last 12 months.

“It is encouraging to see sales of single-family homes increase as the market returns to more typical levels,” said BILD President & CEO David Wilkes. “However, we still have concerns that until fundamental adjustments are made to align supply with demand in the GTA housing market, we will continue to have affordability challenges.”

August New Home Sales by Municipality:

With 1,500 member companies, BILD is the voice of the home building, land development and professional renovation industry in the Greater Toronto Area. The building and renovation industry provides $34 billion in investment value and employs 270,000 people in the region. BILD is proudly affiliated with the Ontario and Canadian Home Builders' Associations.

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