New construction home sales in Greater Toronto Area jumped in October, primarily driven by sales of multi-family homes, stacked townhomes, and condo apartments in high-rise and mid-rise developments, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) reported in late november.
BILD, reporting on Altus Group data, said condo sales in GTA for October 2017 were 81 per cent above the 10 year average of 2,697, posting the highest October yet recorded.
Overall, 5,377 new homes were sold in GTA this October 2017. About 91 percent of these homes or 4,884 units were multi-family homes. The remaining nine percent or 493 units were low-rise, single-family homes including townhomes, detached and semi-detached housing.
“October data shows that the new homebuyer is left with very little choice when it comes to purchasing a new home,” said BILD CEO and president Bryan Tuckey.
“Provincial intensification policy has our members building more high and mid-rise dwellings making housing choices a challenge. The cost of a single family home is out of reach for many consumers pushing them to buy a condo over a house. As a result, we are seeing record breaking condo sales and higher prices this year for new low-rise homes,” Tuckey said.
BILD says the GTA’s housing inventory is still below a healthy level. This statistic is measured by the number of homes available for purchase at the end of each month, and by the end of October 2017, GTA still had 9,308 multi-family homes and 3,192 single-family homes. Prices of available new homes also slightly increased for both types of housing.