Report says suburban houses big winners
Toronto area suburbs are showing the most appreciation as buyers are priced out of the downtown core, according to a survey.Homeowners in the Scarborough area of Toronto, Richmond Hill, Markham and Mississauga were the big winners based on the third-quarter study released by Royal LePage Real Estate Services yesterday.
The average price for an existing standard two-storey home in the Scarborough Agincourt area is now $325,000, up by 14.8%, while a Richmond Hill home is now $340,000, up 13.3%, said Royal LePage.
A Markham home is $430,000 up 11.7%, while a Mississauga home in the Meadowvale area is $309,000 up 9.2% from the third quarter of 2005.
Meanwhile, some formerly hot Toronto neighbourhoods are seeing flat prices or declines.
In the Annex neighbourhood, a standard two-storey home is now $715,000, down 4%. The same home last year went for $745,000.
Meanwhile, the price of a standard condominium also dropped by 1.8% to $393,000.
Other neighbourhoods saw zero price growth. A North Toronto home goes for $600,000, the same price as a year ago. It’s the same in the Islington and Kingsway area of Etobicoke, where a two-storey home has flat-lined at $450,000 — the same amount as a year earlier.
Despite the increases in suburban properties, overall the standard two-storey home in the Toronto area is now up by only 1.4% from a year earlier, the smallest increase for that bellwether segment and below the rate of inflation, according to LePage.
While sales are up from last year, price appreciation has slowed considerably as higher interest rates and house prices erode affordability in the Toronto area. Condominiums and town homes have seen a significant uptick in sales compared to the gold-standard of two-storey homes, which now cost an average of $481,523.
A detached bungalow in Toronto is up by 3.9% to $373,368, while a standard condominium is now $252,088, up by 3.8%.
The economist is expecting average prices of a resale homes to be up 5.7% by the end of 2006, compared to a year earlier. At the end of 2005, prices were up by 6.6% for the year. However, price appreciation is expected to moderate even more in 2007 to 3.4%, according to Dunning.
As Toronto area home prices have moderated, they are a stark contrast to western provinces.
The association reported yesterday that seasonally adjusted home resales hit 39,725 units in August, an increase of 0.7% from July and on track to set an annual record. Ontario, with a more mature housing market, was one of the few provinces not to hit a record.
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