Average price for all new low-rise housing in Toronto passes $1M

TORONTO — It’s no longer just new detached homes that are selling for more than a $1 million: The average price of any groundlevel housing in the Greater Toronto Area has passed the seven-figure mark for the first time.

The Building Industry and Land Development Association said Thursday that the average single-family low-rise home — it includes detached, semi-detached, row and townhomes — sold for $1,028,395 in January.

Altus Group, which provides the data for BILD, said prices for ground-level housing climbed 25 per cent in one year.

The average price of a new detached home reached a record $1,316,325 last month, up from $444,368 10 years ago. The average price of a new GTA townhouse was $879,619 last month compared to $328,989 in January 2007.

“The GTA is facing a severe shortage of housing supply, particularly for single-family homes, which sell as soon as they come to market,” said Bryan Tuckey, chief executive of BILD. “When there aren’t enough homes to satisfy demand, prices increase and that is exactly what has been happening in our region over the last decade.”

The group said there were just 1,524 new ground-oriented homes available for purchase in builders’ inventories at the end of January, close to a record low. A decade ago, the inventory level was 18,400. The supply of new detached homes dropped to 534 last month, a record low for the GTA. Ten years ago there were 12,242 unsold detached homes in January.

BILD also said the average price of new condominium apartments in stacked townhouses, and mid and highrise buildings in the GTA reached a record price of $507,511 in January. On a square foot basis, that brought the average price to a record $625.

New apartment prices were up 13 per cent in January from a year ago, about a $60,000 increase. A decade ago the average price was $322,569.

“Our industry is implementing provincial policy by building more condominium apartments and less ground-oriented housing,” Tuckey said. “A decade ago condominiums represented just 42 per cent of available inventory compared to 88 per cent in 2017.”

BILD said the industry is now seeing supply levels dip rapidly in the condo market. In January, there were 11,529 new condominiums in builders’ inventories across the GTA, a 10-year low. Overall there were 13,053 new homes in builders’ inventories across the region in January compared to 31,461 a decade ago.