A More Active August: What’s Happening In The Market?

The month of August showed a slight upward trend in the Toronto housing market sales. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board’s (TRREB) MLS System reported a total of 5,627 sales in August 2022. While this does represent a 34.2% decline in sales year-over-year, the decline was at a lower rate than the last four months, and actually represented an increase compared to July 2022.

The MLS Home Price Index was up by 8.9% year-over-year, while the average sale price went up by 0.9%, from $1,070,201 in August 2021 to $1,079,500 in August 2022. The largest gains were from the townhome and condo apartment market segments, with average sale prices rising 2.9% and 3.6% respectively. However, there were a higher number of sales in the detached and semi-detached markets.

Sales in general represented a higher share of new listings in August 2022; this upward trend could mean a slight rebound for selling prices in the upcoming months.

TRREB President Kevin Crigger along with CEO John DiMichele are calling on the federal government to assist buyers as well as current homeowners nearing mortgage renewal with the additional stresses of rising interest rates. In particular, removing stress tests when changing lenders and longer amortization periods have been suggested to curb the cost of inflationary measures.

In the long term, housing supply remains a challenge for Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. However, both the province and Mayor John Tory have committed to bringing on more rental housing options as well as ownership options to assist with housing affordability.

There is no doubt that transacting in Real Estate has certainly transformed these last few years. We have had the pleasure of servicing our clients through these unprecedented times, and will continue to do so as the real estate market climate changes. Despite the recent cooling of sales, the Toronto Real Estate Market still remains one of the strongest markets in the world, and we can offer our guidance and expertise to help you make the next real estate move that is right for you and find ways to take advantage of the current market. Contact us today for a no-obligation discussion on how we can help you throughout your real estate journey.