April 7, 2021 | Buying

As we reflect back on March 2021, we recognize that we’ve now witnessed record-breaking home sales consistently for the first 3 months of 2021 in the GTA. The driving forces of these staggering numbers are Buyers taking advantage of the favourable borrowing costs and continued improvement in many sectors of the economy.

There were 15,652 sales reported for March 2021 by GTA Realtors – close to double that of March 2020. Now, it’s very important we recognize that while sales were strong, if we compare March 2021 numbers to the numbers we saw in the second half of March 2020, we are comparing against the initial impact of COVID-19. The second half of March 2020 sales immobilized the housing dramatically. With this in mind, it is critical to consider annual sales growth for the pre-COVID period (March 1 to 14, 2020) and keep these statistics separate from the COVID period (March 15 to March 31, 2020).

Let’s look at the separate statistics:

 

  • 6,504 sales were reported during the first 14 days of March 2021 – these numbers are a 41% increase compared to the pre-COVID period in March of 2020.
  • There were 9,148 sales reported between March 15 and March 31, 2021 – an increase of 174% compared to the COVID period of March 2020. This is a blunt reminder of how impactful COVID-19 was on the housing market and overall economy a year ago.

 

As a whole, March 2021 displayed that new listings were up 57% year-over-year to 22,709. While representing a strong year-over-year increase, compared to the number of sales, the annual growth rate for new listings was much lower.

The average selling price, at $1,097,565 was up by 21.6% compared to March 2020. The MLS Home Price Index Composite Benchmark for March 2021 was up by 16.5% over the same period. Following the recent trend, low-rise home sales in regions surrounding the City of Toronto were responsible for driving the price growth.

 

There is no doubt that transacting in Real Estate has definitely transformed- Throughout this pandemic we have had the pleasure of servicing a number of our clients, resulting in successful and most of all SAFE transactions throughout. Severe precautions are in place, and while we keep those in the forefront, we are still here to 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 Toronto Real Estate Market. Contact us today for a no-obligation discussion on how we can help you throughout your real estate journey.