Toronto-area housing prices creeping up again, says real estate board

Toronto's housing market continued to tighten in April as prices edged up four per cent from March and sales moved closer to the level they were at last April, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board revealed on Wednesday (May 3).

Toronto's housing market continued to tighten in April as prices edged up four per cent from March and sales moved closer to the level they were at last April, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board revealed on Wednesday (May 3).

April's average price tumbled 7.8 per cent to $1,153,269, but was roughly four per cent higher than the $1,108,499 the average buyer paid in March. Sales for the month hit 7,531, down 5.2 per cent from a year ago but up about nine per cent from March.

Those sales outpaced new listings, which were down by over a third from a year before, fuelling more competition between buyers who were too hesitant to buy homes earlier this year.

Pushing these buyers to the sidelines were eight consecutive interest rate hikes, which took a bite out of their borrowing power, even as prices started to tumble.

Their hesitance and those lower prices weighed on sellers too as many held off listing their homes because they won't fetch the big sums or bidding wars their neighbours had in 2021 and early 2022.

Toronto real estate board president Paul Baron suspects the demand is coming from buyers who have come to terms with higher borrowing costs and are taking advantage of lower selling prices compared to this time last year.

April's supply level was much lower than the city has seen in the past. New listings for the month totalled 11,364, down 38.3 per cent from a year ago.