Ontario Construction News staff writer
The GTA new home market saw strong sales in May, continuing the momentum of recent months, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) said on Wednesday.
Total new home sales, with 4,794 new homes sold, were up 94 per cent from last year, and up 27 per cent from the 10-year average, according to Altus Group, which provides new home market intelligence for BILD.
There were 1,004 new single-family homes, including detached, linked and semi-detached houses and townhouses, sold in May, an increase of 211 per cent from last May but still 32 per cent below the 10-year average. This is the seventh month in a row that new single-family home sales have increased year-over-year.
Sales of new condominium apartments in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, with 3,790 units sold, were up 76 per cent from May 2018 and 64 per cent above the ten-year average.
“It was the highest number of total new home sales for May since 2002,” said Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s executive vice-president, data solutions. “New condo apartment sales were brisk among the near-record number of units launched in April. At the same time, new single-family home sales broke the 1,000-unit threshold for the first time in two years.”
Remaining inventory dipped slightly in May, to 12,537 condominium apartment units and 4,574 single family homes. Remaining inventory includes units in preconstruction projects, in projects currently under construction and in completed buildings.
“The sales numbers of the last few months show that the underlying demand for new homes, both condo apartments and single-family homes, was there all along,” said David Wilkes, BILD president and CEO. “Our challenge as a region is to continue to develop innovative policy solutions that will allow us to build enough housing supply to meet that demand.”
The benchmark price of new condominium apartments increased slightly from last month, to $779,687, up 2.8 per cent over the last 12 months, while the benchmark price of new single-family homes decreased slightly from last month, to $1,109,501, down 3 per cent over the last 12 months.
May New Home Sales by Municipality: **
| May 2019 | Condominium Apartments | Single-family | Total | ||||||
| Region | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| Durham | 49 | 242 | 116 | 269 | 70 | 89 | 318 | 312 | 205 |
| Halton | 491 | 24 | 178 | 157 | 31 | 69 | 648 | 55 | 247 |
| Peel | 844 | 252 | 804 | 288 | 130 | 171 | 1,132 | 382 | 975 |
| Toronto | 1,406 | 1,374 | 1,712 | 42 | 35 | 20 | 1,448 | 1,409 | 1,732 |
| York | 1,000 | 257 | 749 | 248 | 57 | 149 | 1,248 | 314 | 898 |
| GTA | 3,790 | 2,149 | 3,559 | 1,004 | 323 | 498 | 4,794 | 2,472 | 4,057 |
Source: Altus Group