Toronto’s home sales surged again in June, pushing prices higher and narrowing affordable options for buyers.
A total of 8,860 homes were sold in the country’s biggest city last month, up by 10% from the same month last year, the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) reported on Thursday. New listings dropped by 0.4% to 15,816, leading to increased competition between buyers and price increases across certain segments.
Home sales in the region have bounced back in recent months after plunging amid tighter mortgage-lending rules and higher interest rates in the past year. Despite the rebound, TREB continues to ask policymakers to provide more flexibility on mortgage qualifications and take measures to boost supply.
“Buyers started moving off the sidelines in the spring,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s chief market analyst. “However, because we saw virtually no change in the number of new listings, market conditions tightened, and price growth picked up, especially for more higher-density home types, which, on average, are less expensive than traditional detached houses and therefore provide more affordable housing options.”
Condos were the only segment to see a drop in sales last month, down by 3.2% from last year. The decline was primarily driven by sales in the core of the city, which saw sales drop by 5.6% compared to the 2.7% gain in the Greater Toronto Area, according to a Bloomberg report.
