Category
Market Updates
Date
May 9, 2016
“While the condominium apartment market segment remains the best supplied in the GTA, market conditions have tightened considerably since the first quarter of 2015. Not surprisingly, the pace of year-over-year price growth has accelerated over the same period of time” Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis
The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) has released their 2016 Q1 market update, and we are excited about the results.
To begin, condo sales in the GTA rose by 21% in Q1 of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015.
TREB President Mark McLean noted that the condo market “is an important entry point into home ownership for a lot of GTA households, particularly in the City of Toronto.”
The report goes on to note that the average condo selling price was $393,589 in Q1. This is an increase of 8.1% compared to Q1 2015. Here is a breakdown by area:
It’s not just the condo market that saw strong growth in 2016 Q1.
According to the TREB Market Watch Report for March 2016, “for the TREB market area as a whole, double-digit year-over-year rates of sales growth were experienced for all major home types during the first quarter.”
On the rental side of the analysis, things tightened up a bit since 2015.
The tighter rental market meant a growth in average rents and has kept vacancy rates at record lows. Vacancy rates in the downtown core continue to hover at 1.8%.
Mr. McLean reported that “demand for condominium apartment rentals remained very strong relative to available listings. As a result, strong competition between renters prompted very strong growth in average rents.”
Indeed, average rent for one-bedroom condos rose to $1,662, and to $2,375 for a two-bedroom condo. This is a 4.8% and 8.9% year-over-year increase, respectively.
All this to say, we continue to see strong growth signals for real estate investors. This, coupled with rising rents and low vacancy rates, make it an exciting time to be a condo investor.
Ryan Coyle, CoFounder CONNECT Asset Management