Home sales and prices remain red hot in Toronto and Vancouver.
Home prices in Toronto, Canada's largest housing market, climbed to yet another all-time high in October as positive sales in the detached property market offset a plummeting condo market.
The average selling price for all homes across the Greater Toronto Area climbed to $968,318 in October, representing a 13.7% increase from a year earlier and marking a fifth consecutive month of record-breaking prices.
Total sales jumped 25.1% year-over-year in October as 10,563 properties traded hands in the Greater Toronto Area, according to data released by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB).
And it was the highest-priced segment of the market that saw the most heat, as sales of detached properties surged 33.9% amid 5,263 transactions. That helped lift the average price for a detached home in the Greater Toronto Area nearly 15% to $1.2 million.
Meanwhile, Toronto's once thriving condo market saw sales fall 8.5% year-over-year and the average price inch up 0.8% to $668,161.
Vancouver Market
At the same time, Vancouver home sales rose 29% compared with a year ago in October, making it the second-best October on record, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said Tuesday.
The board said its agents sold 3,687 homes last month, up from 2,858 sold in October 2019. The benchmark price for Vancouver homes hit $1 million in October, up 6% from last October and 0.4% from September.
Bowen Island saw the biggest one-month increase in benchmark home prices, of 5.7%, followed by the Sunshine Coast, where prices rose 3.2%. West Vancouver was the priciest neighbourhood, with a benchmark home price of $2.3 million.
The housing market has been catching up after COVID-19 lockdowns earlier this year stymied the spring selling season. Borrowing costs have also been low amid the COVID-19 response from the Bank of Canada.
Home sales, which were up also 1.2% from September, rose amid a surge in sales of detached homes. In October, 1,335 detached homes changed hands, a 42.3% increase from the same period last year. Detached homes also saw the biggest year-over-year price increase in October, up 8.5 per cent to $1.5 million.
But sales growth was slightly slower in Vancouver's most common home type, apartments. Apartment sales hit 1,570, up 13.4% compared with October 2019, while the benchmark price was up 4.4% to $683,500.
