Greater Toronto new home sales are weaker, helping to push inventory a little higher. Altus Group data shows new home sales were down in October. The drop in sales wasn’t due to weaker demand across the region though. It was exclusively due to the City, as buyers sought out suburban homes.
Toronto Detached Prices Jump, While Condo Prices Slip
Greater Toronto new home prices are up significantly from last year. The benchmark price of a new single-family home reached $1,211,141 in October, up 2.70% from the month before. Compared to last year, prices are 12.7% higher. Condo apartments are seeing a little more mixed movements though.
The benchmark for new condo apartment prices is still higher than last year, but is falling from peak. The price of a typical condo hit $990,880 in October, down 2.52% from a month before. Compared to a year before, this is still 18.8% higher though. Higher, but rapidly declining after peaking earlier this year.
Greater Toronto New Home Sales Drop 10%
Greater Toronto new home sales are down significantly from last year. There were 4,254 sales in October, down 10% from last October. Breaking it down, single-family homes represented 1,914 of the new homes sold, up 321.58% from last year. Condo apartments represented the other 2,340 of the sales, down 31.51% from last year. The slowdown is largely to do with Toronto cooling a lot more rapidly than the suburbs.
Greater Toronto New Home Sales
Total October new home sales in Greater Toronto. Source: Altus Group, Better Dwelling.City of Toronto New Home Sales Fall 44%, Driven By Condo Drop
In the City of Toronto, new home sales fell even more sharply than the suburbs. There were 1,773 sales in October, down 44.33% from last year. Single-family homes represented 33 of the sales, up 65% from last year. Condo apartments represented the other 954, down 45.79% from last year. Most of the weakness for Greater Toronto new home sales, was due to weak condo apartment demand in the City.
Greater Toronto New Home Sales
Total new home sales in Greater Toronto for October, by region. Source: Altus Group, Better Dwelling.Greater Toronto New Home Inventory Hits Pre-Pandemic Levels
New home inventory is down from last year, but higher than it’s been in a while. There were 15,386 new homes for sale in October, down 22% from last year. Most of the decline was in the suburban single-family segment. Condo apartments in the City fell at a faster rate than sales though, weakening price growth. Despite generally lower inventory from last year, this is now the highest level the industry has faced since February.
Greater Toronto new home sales are generally reflecting the trends seen in the resale market. The suburbs are seeing low inventory relative to demand for the market – with suburban sales outpacing the City. High rise condo apartments are also much weaker than single-family demand. This is partially due to the shift to suburban demand, where there’s fewer new condo units. Although resales have also seen that trend local to the City, where inventory is at a multi-year high.
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“The government will take steps over the coming year to implement a national, tax-based measure targeting the unproductive use of domestic housing that is owned by non-resident, non-Canadians, which removes these assets from the domestic housing supply,” the update adds.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland
As the tax base shrinks, the claws come out. These comments and the hike to 3% vacant property tax in Vancouver are just the beginning. Hiking taxes and using civil forfeiture on anyone who can’t vote will be extremely politically popular in the near future. All levels of government need to fill their empty coffers somehow, and foreigners are an easy target and politically acceptable to raise taxes on.
Capitalism was designed for only one tax – land taxes. High land taxes and lower income taxes should be a priority.
It would be far preferable to simply ban the usurpation of Canadian homes by foreign nationals. Canadian homes for Canadians, period.