Ontario Construction News staff writer
In November, the GTA new home market saw trends from recent months continue, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) says.
It was another strong month for sales of new single-family homes, including detached, linked, and semi-detached houses and townhouses (excluding stacked townhouses), with 1,914 units sold, according to Altus Group, BILD’s source for new home market intelligence, BILD said in a Dec. 22 statement. This was an increase of 68 per cent from last November and 58 per cent above the 10-year average.
Condominium apartments, including units in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, accounted for 1,836 new home sales, down 49 per cent from November 2019 and 32 per cent below the 10-year average.
“While single-family sales continued to see strong demand, we saw fewer than typical new condominium apartment openings in November, which resulted in lower overall sales for the month,” said Ryan Wyse, Altus Group’s Manager, Analytics, Data Solutions. “The pandemic has disrupted the usual seasonality in the market and we are likely seeing builders take a wait-and-see approach with respect to future launches, with an eye on the spring market.”
With few new projects opening in November, total new home remaining inventory dipped from the previous month to 14,697 units. Remaining inventory includes units in preconstruction projects, in projects currently under construction, and in completed buildings.
The benchmark price for new condominium apartments in November was $1,003,801, which was up 17.9 per cent over the last 12 months, and the benchmark price for new single-family homes was $1,267,248, which was up 15.8 per cent over the last 12 months.
“It was a busy summer and fall in the GTA new home market, as the pent-up demand from our locked-down spring worked its way through the system,” said David Wilkes, BILD’s president and CEO. “With the arrival of winter, we are entering what is typically a quiet time in the market. We are optimistic that the overall new home market in the GTA will demonstrate its strength as the region emerges from the pandemic.”
November New Home Sales by Municipality:*
| November 2020 | Condominium Apartments | Single-family | Total | ||||||
| Region | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
| Durham | 36 | 290 | 410 | 737 | 217 | 51 | 773 | 507 | 461 |
| Halton | 448 | 117 | 90 | 275 | 117 | 92 | 723 | 234 | 182 |
| Peel | 72 | 390 | 758 | 191 | 250 | 64 | 263 | 640 | 822 |
| Toronto | 819 | 2,192 | 1,430 | 32 | 34 | 8 | 851 | 2,226 | 1,438 |
| York | 461 | 622 | 92 | 679 | 518 | 144 | 1,140 | 1,140 | 236 |
| GTA | 1,836 | 3,611 | 2,780 | 1,914 | 1,136 | 359 | 3,750 | 4,747 | 3,139 |
*Source: Altus Group