While it’s true that parts of the country are cooling, new data on Toronto’s housing market — especially condos — show good deals don’t last long.
Zoocasa crunched the numbers and found condo prices have doubled in eight Toronto neighbourhoods over the past five years. The average price in seven of them is below $500,000 today — a far cry from well below $250,000 in 2014.
These areas have also seen fewer properties move hands because of less inventory.
The report found condos in the downtown core or close to transit, in places like Cabbagetown, City Place and Mimico, saw the greatest number of sales even though prices were between $520,000 and $711,000.
“While this speaks to location being a priority for condo buyers, it also outlines how affordability has been reduced for many would-be house purchasers, who could have purchased a single-family home in 2014 with the same budget, and have since seen affordability reduced by the federal mortgage stress test,” said Penelope Graham, managing editor at Zoocasa, in the report.
The average price went up by at least 50 per cent in 30 of the 35 neighbourhoods included in the report, and all of them are up more than 25 per cent.
The average condo price for all neighbourhoods went up 66 per cent to $627,927.
House price growth more subdued
Detached and semi-detached home price growth has been more modest, but still recorded a strong 42 per cent increase to an average of $1,167,968. The Forest Hill, Oakwood sector (C03) and the Regent Park, St. James Town and Corktown community (C08) were the two neighbourhoods that doubled in average price.
“Conditions are relatively brisk in C03, with 30 sales and 44 listings during the month of July, setting the stage for a robust sellers’ market at a premium price point of $2,031,545,” said Graham.
“In contrast, detached and semi-detached houses for sale are in very scarce supply in C08, with just four sales and five listings over the course of the month. That effectively puts upward pressure on prices, which are at an average of $1,789,032, despite it being a very small market for single-family housing.”
Zoocasa notes buyers of detached and semi-detached homes are most drawn to neighbourhoods with the highest levels of affordability.
Jessy Bains is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jessysbains
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