Toronto Real Estate Near Record in 2011

Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 4,718 transactions through the TorontoMLS® system in December 2011. The December result capped off the second-best year on record under the current Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) boundaries. Total sales for 2011 amounted to 89,347 – up 4% in comparison to 2010.

Comment: Please go back and look at my predictions at the beginning of 2011. I called for growth of 3–5% for 2011 – and it ends up being 4% more than 2010. You see, this is what I do everyday, all day. I am not an economist, nor a banker. I spend my time on helping people buy and sell condos and houses. And play with my kids. I am never amazed when the “experts” who do not work in real estate make predictions that prove to be wrong in time. I know that I know what I am doing, I trust the opinion of my peers. This is why you need to work with a real estate agent, we do actually know what we are talking about.

TREB’s baseline forecast for 2012 is for an average price of $485,000, representing a more moderate 4% annual rate of price growth.

“Low borrowing costs kept buyers confident in their ability to comfortably cover their mortgage payments along with other major housing costs,” said TREB President Richard Silver. “If buyers had not been constrained by a shortage of listings over the past 12 months, we would have been flirting with a new sales record in the Greater Toronto Area,” added Silver.

Comment: And it is this lack of listings that is keeping a pent up pool of buyers chomping at the bit. This is why the average Toronto condo or house sells in 27 days, maybe in half that time. And this is what is fueling the bidding wars. I have hear some say that they are over… nope, not yet. Once the spring comes and the weather is nice, people will get serious about buying and the crazy fights and 10-bid sales will resume.

The average selling price in December was $451,436 – up 4% compared to December 2010. For all of 2011, the average selling price was $465,412, an increase of 8% in comparison to the average of $431,276 in 2010.

Comment: I will have to go back and check, but I am pretty sure that I called for an 8% price increase. I do not want prices to be this high, trust me. The average 2-storey detached house in Toronto sells for more than $700k – and that is the average! Many cost much more.

“Months of inventory remained below the pre-recession norm in 2011. Very tight market conditions meant substantial competition between buyers and strong upward pressure on selling prices,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.

“TREB’s baseline forecast for 2012 is for an average price of $485,000, representing a more moderate 4% annual rate of price growth. This baseline view is subject to a heightened degree of risk given the uncertain global economic outlook,” continued Mercer.

Comment: And there is a prediction I can support. Moderate price increases of 4%, probably similar sales volume to 2011 and a tight market, a sellers market. That is pretty much what I would call for as well.

Summary of TorontoMLS® Sales and Average Price

City of Toronto (“416″)
2011 Sales: 1,948 | Average Price: $474,270
2010 Sales: 1,818 | Average Price: $463,580

Rest of GTA (“905″)
2011 Sales: 2,770 | Average Price: $435,378
2010 Sales: 2,468 | Average Price: $411,383

All of the GTA
2011 Sales: 4,718 | Average Price: $451,436
2010 Sales: 4,286 | Average Price: $433,523

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960

Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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