Toronto CityPlace

Strong condo sales in the GTA in Q3: report

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Urbanation Inc., a leading source of information and analysis on the Toronto condominium market, released its Q3-2014 market results at the end of October, highlighting that a total of 4,753 new condominium apartments were sold across the Greater Toronto Area during Q3-2014. This represents the third best summer for the market behind 2011 and 2007 and a 53 per cent year-over-year increase from a 10-year low in 2013. Sales over the past 12 months ending in September have reached over 19,000 units in the GTA — a level not seen in two years.

Sales were boosted by a number of highly successful new project launches during the quarter, but more importantly by increased absorptions at pre-existing projects. As a result, the number of unsold units in the market across all stages of development (pre-construction, under construction and recently completed) fell by 11 per cent during the quarter to 16,743 units.

The share of total active units in development (104,081 units) that have been pre-purchased increased to a record high of 84 per cent. The index for average selling prices reached $555 psf, up 3 per cent year-over-year, which is consistent with the trend over the past two years. Pricing for unsold units grew at an annual pace of 2 per cent to an average of $571 psf, which marked a change in course following flat to slightly negative growth rates in previous quarters.

“Sales this past summer reaffirm that the new condo market in Toronto is on track for one if its best years on record,” said Shaun Hildebrand, Urbanation’s Senior Vice President.“There is still quite a bit of pent up demand that came out of the slowdown last year. Should market confidence continue to hold in spite of the recent turmoil in financial markets, this sales momentum will carry into the final months of 2014 and early 2015,” added Hildebrand.

GTA resale condo apartment sales grew by 15 per cent year-over-year to 4,850 units in Q3-2014, picking up a bit of speed from the 14 per cent and 12 per cent rates of growth in the second and first quarters of the year, respectively. Meanwhile, listings were relatively flat, tightening the ratio of sales to total listings to a two-year high of 47 per cent. Prices increased by 3 per cent to an average of $426 psf.