Demand for new homes continues to outpace supply

By NextHome Staff
May 24, 2017
In April, demand for new homes in the GTA continued to outpace supply and prices for all types of available new homes were up significantly, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) announced May 24, 2017.There were 4,680 new homes sold in the GTA last month, an increase of 7 per cent from a year ago according to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence. Year-to-date sales of new homes in the GTA have been exceptionally strong. In the first four months of this year, 17,977 new homes were sold, 24 per cent more than during the same period in 2016 and 48 per cent above the 10-year average.Meanwhile, the supply of new homes, the number of homes available to buyers in builders’ inventories at the end of the month, continued its unabated decline. At the end of April, there were only 9,387 new homes available to buyers across the entire GTA. This is the first time that overall inventory has dropped below 10,000 units since BILD and Altus Group began tracking such data more than a decade ago. A year ago, there were 21,056 new homes available for purchase in builders’ inventories.“Builders are not able to keep up with the demand for new housing,” said BILD president and CEO Bryan Tuckey. “The product that builders are able to bring to the market is quickly purchased and prices for all types of new homes keep increasing as a result.”In April, the average price of available new lowrise single-family homes, which includes detached, semi-detached and townhomes, was $1,212,297. That is 40 per cent more than the average price of such homes in April 2016.Last month, the average asking price for available new detached homes in the GTA reached $1,810,232, while the average for available semi-detached was $856,036 and for townhomes was $946,496.Prices of available new multi-family homes, condo apartments in highrise and midrise buildings and stacked townhomes, were up nearly 24 per cent from a year ago. The average price of available units hit $570,226 in April, with the average price per square foot at $685, and the average unit size 832 square feet.Prices of available condo apartments were up due to both an increase in average unit size and a substantial increase in average price per square foot. Average price per square foot was up 17.5 percent from a year ago.“The declining number of new homes available to purchase is not a question of less product being brought to market,” says Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s executive vice president of Research Consulting Services. “There were more than 11,000 units in projects opened in the first four months of this year – that’s about one-third higher than the average for the previous two years.”Approximately 70 per cent of the new homes that were purchased in the GTA in April (3,265 units) were multi-family condo apartments in highrise, midrise or stacked townhomes, while 30 per cent (1,415) were new single-family lowrise homes including detached, semi-detached and townhomes.Single-family lowrise sales were down 39 per cent from a year ago while sales of multi-family condo apartments were up 61 per cent from April 2016.April New Home Sales by Municipality:
April 2017

Highrise

Lowrise

Total

Region

2017

2016

2015

2017

2016

2015

2017

2016

2015

Durham

19

33

16

362

356

441

381

389

457

Halton

129

87

123

84

342

476

213

429

599

Peel

872

170

106

474

908

822

1,346

1,078

928

Toronto

1,621

1,391

1,262

52

119

88

1,673

1,510

1,350

York

624

351

294

443

611

868

1,067

962

1,162

GTA

3,265

2,032

1,801

1,415

2,336

2,695

4,680

4,368

4,496

Source: Altus Group

Have great ideas? Become a Contributor.

Contact Us

Our Publications

Read all your favourites online without a subscription

Read Now

Sign Up to Our Newsletter

Sign up to receive the smartest advice and latest inspiration from the editors of NextHome

Subscribe