GTA new home market sees increased activity in June

Toronto, July 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The GTA new home market began to see more activity in June, following two months of historically slow sales due to the pandemic, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced today.

Sales of new single-family homes, accounting for 1,160 of the total of 1,904 new homes sold, were the highest for June since 2016, though still 12 per cent below the 10-year average, according to Altus Group*, BILD's official source for new home market intelligence. Single-family homes include detached, linked, and semi-detached houses and townhouses (excluding stacked townhouses).

Sales numbers for new condominium apartments, including units in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, at 744 units sold, were up compared to April and May, but still down 73 per cent from June 2019 and 70 per cent below the 10-year average.

"Single-family demand recovered more quickly as buyers returned and new supply started to come back into the market," said Matthew Boukall, Altus Group's Vice President, Data Solutions. "Given the challenges around COVID-19 restrictions, we've seen developers adopt new strategies to reach consumers and have seen success in the lower density segments."

With several projects launching in June, total new home remaining inventory increased slightly from the previous month to 13,863 units. Remaining inventory includes units in preconstruction projects, in projects currently under construction, and in completed buildings.

The benchmark prices for both new condominium apartments and new single-family homes increased in June compared to the previous month. The benchmark price for new condo apartments was $999,228, which was up 24.2 per cent over the last 12 months, and the benchmark price for new single-family homes was $1,141,848, which was up 3.9 per cent over the last 12 months.

"The June new home sales numbers are encouraging, though much remains to be seen as the GTA re-opens and begins recovery," said David Wilkes, BILD President & CEO. "Now is the time to implement what we learned about facilitating the delivery of housing during the pandemic, to address our long-standing housing supply and affordability challenge while stimulating the local economy. Our industry is working with all three levels of government to help achieve these goals."

Table: June new home sales by municipality** 

Source: Altus Group

With 1,500 member companies, BILD is the voice of the home building, land development and professional renovation industry in the Greater Toronto Area. The building and renovation industry provides $33 billion in investment value and employs 271,000 people in the region. BILD is proudly affiliated with the Ontario and Canadian Home Builders' Associations.

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*Altus Group should be credited as BILD's official source of new home market intelligence.

** Historical data are subject to revisions.

Attachment

• Altus Data Solutions media backgrounder June 2020