Home sales rose slightly year over year in January. The 4,009 transactions in the first month of 2019 was only .6 per cent higher than the same level last year, but was up 3.4 per cent from December, according to preliminary seasonally adjusted figures.

The average price of a detached house in the region was $941,488 last month, a 2.8 per cent year over year decline. Condos averaged $548,176, up 7.9 per cent compared to January 2018.

Apartments and higher-density ground-level homes such as town houses are seeing better price gains simply because they are more affordable said TREB director of market analysis Jason Mercer.

“Market conditions in January, as represented by the relationship between sales and listings, continued to support moderate year-over-year price increases, regardless of the price measure considered,” he said.

Last year’s listings on TREB’s Multiple Listings Service (MLS) returned to post-2009 levels of about 155,000, after a spike in 2017.

An Ipsos consumer home buying survey for the real estate board being released Wednesday will show a dip in home owners expecting to list their properties next year but a slight increase in those looking to buy, said TREB’s press release.

TREB anticipates a continuation of the region’s tight rental market with rents expect to grow in the high single-digits or low double-digits for one- and two-bedroom condos leased on the MLS.

“Almost two-thirds of investor-owners are thinking about selling one or more of their units over the next year,” according to the Ipsos survey. TREB says that is likely a result of rent controls.