Rising sales of detached homes pushed Toronto-area real estate to new highs in October, even as sales and prices were down in some parts of the high-rise condominium market.
The Toronto region had its fourth consecutive month of record sales volumes. Detached homes sold for $1.2 million on average, an increase of 14.8 percent from a year earlier.
The detached home market is massively imbalanced. This highlights a years-long trend that has accelerated throughout the pandemic, as fewer owners of detached homes listed their houses and buyer demand continued to outstrip available supply, which in turn has boosted home prices.
The only exception to the tightening trends is in condominiums, the increasing supply of which is turning downtown high-rises into a buyer's market. Condominiums sold for $622,122 on average, an increase of 0.7 percent from a year earlier.
Looking forward, we expect the Greater Toronto Area housing market will be a large beneficiary of the federal government's recently announced targets for immigration. Canada increased its immigration targets to add 400,000 new permanent residents per year for the next three years. This will result in significantly higher demand for housing.