Home sales head in different directions in Toronto, Montreal

Home sales in Toronto and Montreal went in opposite directions in February, local real estate board reports showed Tuesday. Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area plunged 34.9 per cent in February compared to the same month a year ago as buyers adjusted to new mortgage rules and government policy interventions, the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) said.

Montreal’s February data painted a different picture, with sales in the region up five per cent year-overyear in February, as the number of active listings dropped 17 per cent, according to the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board. The board says acceleration in price growth is a direct result of increasingly tighter market conditions.

In Toronto, prices tumbled too, with the average sales price for all housing types falling 12.4 per cent to $767,818.

TREB said the declines had been expected due to market-cooling measures brought in by the Ontario government last April and tougher new mortgage rules introduced in January. The board had also warned that figures would be particularly stark in comparison to the opening months of 2017, when a booming market sent sales and prices skyrocketing. The market slowed considerably in the second half of last year following the implementation of the Ontario measures — which included a 15 per cent foreign buyers’ tax.

“As we move further into the spring and summer months, growth in sales and selling prices is expected to pick up relative to last year,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s director of market analysis. While well off last year’s boom market, the February prices were actually 12 per cent higher than the average reported during the same month in 2016 “which represents an annualized increase well above the rate of inflation for the past two years,” the report states.

The data reaffirmed a split in the market between detached houses and more affordable condominium apartments. Prices for single detached family homes fell 17.2 per cent in the GTA to just over $1 million — weighed down by an 18.6 per cent decline to $1.28 million in the city of Toronto, and a 17.8 per cent drop to $911,065 in the 905 region. The number of single detached houses sold in the GTA fell by 41.2 per cent.