Toronto Street by Mark Watmough
According to a recently issued REALTORS® report, the Greater Toronto Area experienced a favourable 24 per cent rise in home sales in August 2011. The TorontoMLS® system registered 7,542 sales, which can be compared to 6,083 sales in August 2010.
Getting over the hurdle
Moreover, compared to last year, the average selling price went up starkly by more than 10 per cent to $451,663, as the market conditions remained tight due to unequal growth in sales and new listings. (New listings, at 12,509, only increased by 20 per cent compared to 2010.)
The positive market results came as a surprise in the midst of an uncertain economic outlook. TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis, Jason Mercer, expects about 90,000 transactions by the end of the year, and experts agree that, luckily, all major home ownership costs remain affordable in the GTA and market development has been more than favourable recently. However, affordability could still be improved by the removal of the City’s land transfer tax.
