Greater Toronto home prices continued to skyrocket in January, increasing at an unsustainable annual rate of 22.3%, as the city suffers from too little inventory to meet demand, according to the city’s real estate board.
The Toronto Real Estate Board recorded 5,188 sales in January, up 12% from a year earlier, the organization said in a market report published Friday. The average price in the Greater Toronto Area was $770,745 in January, an increase of nearly $140,000 from a year earlier, according to the report.
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The average price of a home in the city grew a bit slower but still at a double-digit rate of 14.5%, to $727,928—with a few high-end property districts leading the charge.
The median sales price in and around The Bridle Path, a celebrity hub north of downtown typified by one- and two-acre estates, increased by more than $1 million in January from a year ago, to $2.93 million.
Another celebrity-speckled district closer to downtown and which includes neighborhoods like The Annex and Yorkville, saw its median price jump 18% since last year, to just under $1 million.
The Stonegate-Queensway neighborhood, an area in the western part of the city typified by townhouses and low-rise apartment buildings, has seen home prices explode over the past year. The median price of a home there has broken the $1 million mark, and increased 66% in January from a year earlier.
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A number of factors have driven the double-digit price growth in recent years, including population (and immigration) growth and very tight supply. The number of active listings in the city of Toronto is less than half of what it was a year ago, and now stands at a paltry 2,230.
"Statistics tell us there is a serious supply problem in the greater GTA, a problem that will continue to play out in 2017," said Jason Mercer, director of market analysis at TREB. "The result will be very strong price growth for all home types this year."