New Listing - 16 Churchill Ave in Whitby

Private, Peaceful, Perfect! The Ultimate In Living Enjoyment! This Meticulously Maintained bungalow Is A Big Slice Of Paradise in demendAlmond Village in Whitby. Step-saving kitchen with breakfast area makes cooking simple and easy. Huge master bedroom with built-in custom closets, Sunny living room with Gleaming Hardwood Floors, skylight and gasFireplace For cozy Winter Nights. Walk out to massive  75 x 200’ private backyard with inground swimming pool, big custom built composite deck, Mature Trees & Perennial Gardens. Perfect For Alfresco Dining. Finished basemendesigned as a comfortable entertainment center. Huge lower level workshop for the handyman. Fantastic Location – Minutes to 401 and 407, Go station, Parks, The Water Front& shopping. Please see the virtual tour  16 Churchill Ave Whitby

New GTA home sales jumped 94% in May compared to a year earlier

There was strong activity in the Greater Toronto Area’s new homes market in May.

Figures from the Altus Group, the official data source of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) show 4,794 new homes were sold in the month, up 94% from a year earlier and 27% above the 10-year average.

“It was the highest number of total new home sales for May since 2002,” said Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s Executive Vice President, Data Solutions. “New condo apartment sales were brisk among the near-record number of units launched in April. At the same time, new single-family home sales broke the 1,000-unit threshold for the first time in two years.”

There was a seventh month of year-over-year increases for new single-family homes, including detached, linked, and semi-detached houses and townhouses, with 1,004 sales, up 211% from last May but still 32% below the ten-year average.

Sales of new condominium apartments in low, medium, and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, with 3,790 units sold, were up 76% from May 2018 and 64% above the ten-year average.

“The sales numbers of the last few months show that the underlying demand for new homes, both condo apartments and single-family homes, was there all along,” said David Wilkes, BILD President & CEO. “Our challenge as a region is to continue to develop innovative policy solutions that will allow us to build enough housing supply to meet that demand.”

Price gains for apartments

The benchmark price of new condominium apartments increased slightly from last month, to $779,687, up 2.8% over the last 12 months, while the benchmark price of new single-family homes decreased slightly from last month, to $1,109,501, down 3% over the last 12 months.

GTA REALTORS® Release June 2019 Stats

The new President of the Toronto Real Estate Board, Michael Collins, announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 8,860 sales through TREB’s MLS® System in June 2019, representing a 10.4 per cent increase compared to June 2018. Over the same time period, total new listings remained at a similar level for the month of June and active listings at month-end were down by 5.7 per cent.

Sales and new listings statistics for the first half of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018 painted a similar story to that of June. Sales were up by 8.5 per cent, while new listings were up by less than one per cent. This shows that sales accounted for a greater share of listings compared to last year, which means that competition between buyers increased, resulting in renewed price growth in many segments of the market.

“As I start my term as President of the Toronto Real Estate Board, I am proud to say that the Greater Toronto Area continues to grow, in terms of employment, population and overall diversity. As people are attracted to our region from all around the world, they obviously need a place to live. Over the next year, as demand for ownership and rental housing continues to grow, my hope is that we will see more movement from policy makers on two fronts: alleviating the constrained supply of housing and providing more flexibility around demand-side policies, including the OSFI two percentage point mortgage stress test and allowable amortization periods on insured mortgages,” said Mr. Collins.

The overall average selling price in June 2019 was $832,703 – up by three per cent compared to the average of $808,066 in June 2018. Price growth was driven by the higher density market segments, including semi-detached houses, townhouses and condominium apartments. The MLS® Home Price Index Composite Benchmark was up by a similar annual rate of 3.6 per cent. For the first half of 2019, the average selling price was $810,661, representing an increase of 2.4 per cent compared to the first half of 2018.

“Buyers started moving off the sidelines in the spring, as evidenced by strong year-over-year price growth throughout the second quarter. However, because we saw virtually no change in the number of new listings, market conditions tightened and price growth picked up, especially for more higher density home types, which, on average, are less-expensive than traditional detached houses and therefore provide more affordable housing options under the new OSFI stress test regime,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Chief Market Analyst.

“While some home buyers may have adjusted to the OSFI stress test by looking to more affordable housing options, this could present an issue over the longer term because we aren’t adding a meaningful amount of new mid-density housing supply to bridge the gap between condominium apartments and detached houses. Finding ways to add more mid-density housing types to existing neighbourhoods and new developments needs to be a key component of municipal, provincial and federal housing plans and policies moving forward,” said TREB CEO John DiMichele.