In 1996 the average price of a residential property in the GTA was less than $200,000.
Fast forward 25 years and more than 2 million transactions and it is now $1,095,475.
The sustained real estate boom, which has seen $1.1 trillion in properties change hands, is detailed in new report from Re/Max Canada examining the last quarter century of sales in eight GTA regions.
The report found that GTA home prices have risen by about seven per cent on average over the last 25 years, easily outpacing the rate of inflation.
But the acceleration in prices has varied, depending on where in the GTA you live.
In York Region the average priced home rose 875 per cent to nearly $1.3 million over the last 25 years whereas prices in central Toronto are up a more modest 300 per cent, from an average of $277,000 to just over $1.1 million.
Prices in Durham Region are up 507 per cent over the last 25 years while in Peel Region they are up 496 per cent and in Halton Region they are up 447 per cent.
“Performance of the GTA housing market over the 25-year period has been nothing short of remarkable,” Re/Max Canada President Christopher Alexander said in a news release accompanying the report. “This is especially so when considering this time period was characterized by the tech meltdown of 2000, 9/11, SARS, the Great Recession of 2008, Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan and the on-going pandemic.”
The Re/Max report said that new construction has been a “significant factor” in sales and price gains in the GTA over the last quarter century but it notes that Peel and York regions are now “approaching build out” with the focus of developers expected to shift from freehold to higher density homes in the coming years.
In fact, the report notes that condominiums now account for roughly half of all sales in Mississauga.
Across the GTA as a whole, condominiums account for nearly 36 per cent of all sales.
“The GTA’s housing stock continues to evolve based on land availability,” Alexander said in the release. “Builders and developers are faced with the harsh reality of a land supply crunch as affordability remains top of mind with the vast majority of buyers. While the preference may be freehold, the necessity to build vertical communities has never been more apparent in a city where the population has grown by two million people since 1996 and is expected to ramp up in coming years.”
The Re/Max report attributes much of the run up in prices across the GTA to population growth, low interest rates and waning land availability.
It says that in 2021 residential sales across the GTA were up 118 per cent compared to 1996. Though it notes that sales rose 326 per cent during the previous 25-year period (1971 to 1996).
GTA real estate prices at a glance over the last 25 years
- Toronto East - Up 452.9 per cent to $1,095,475
- Toronto West – Up 468.4 per cent to $997,195
- Toronto Central – Up 301.3 per cent to $1,000,478
- Durham Region – Up 507.6 per cent to $925,710
- Peel Region – Up 495.9 per cent to $1,052,438
- Halton Region – Up 446.8 per cent to $1,232,967
- York Region – Up 874.9 per cent to $1,291,217
- Dufferin Country – Up 334.5 per cent to $803,822