TORONTO HOME PRICES ON PACE TO TOP $1M IN RECORD YEAR

Toronto home prices are on track to top $1 million on average this year as a pandemic-induced frenzy for buying bigger homes shows no signs of slowing down. The average home price in the Greater Toronto Area reached a record $929,692 in 2020, with buyers taking advantage of low mortgage rates to buy bigger homes during the pandemic, according to a report released Monday by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. Those trends continued into this year, with sales up 50 per cent in January compared with the same period last year, the data show. Toronto is now on pace to join Vancouver as the country’s second city with an average home price above $1 million. The rising prices starting in 2018 and accelerating in 2020 have turned housing affordability into a national political issue.