The cost of a newly constructed detached home in the Toronto region dipped slightly in September to $1.6 million, down from about $1.8 million in August as more new low-rise housing came onto the market.

Builders typically launch new projects and more phases to existing developments in the fall, said Patricia Arsenault, executive vice-president of Altus Group, which researches new home sales for the Building and Land Development Association (BILD).

Read More: The Star looks at the present and the future of Toronto housing

Nevertheless, BILD says the inventory of new homes remains, “well below what is considered a healthy level.”Its September statistics show that sales of new construction low-rise homes — a category that includes detached houses, semi-detached and town homes — fell 73 per cent, compared to the same month last year.

Although they continue to dominate Toronto-area new home sales, condos — including high rises, low-rise apartments and stacked town homes — also saw a 37 per cent drop in the number of sales.

Eighty per cent of the new homes sold in the region this year were condos.

The average price of a condo was $661,188 last month, up slightly from the August average of $644,327 and 36 per cent higher than last September.

The average price per square foot was $789 and the average unit was 838 sq. ft. That compares to $750 per sq. ft. in August and a size of 859 sq. ft. on average.

Across the category, low-rise home prices saw a slight dip from about $1.2 million from about $1.3 million in August. The average was still 21 per cent higher than last September’s price of $992,391, said BILD.

This year to date, low-rise new home sales are down 53 per cent.

Townhouses, often considered a starter home, averaged about $1 million in the region last month.

Of the 352 pre-construction, low-rise homes sold across the region in September, only seven were in the City of Toronto. There were 134 low-rise home sales in Halton Region.

Condo construction continues to be centred in Toronto where 868 of the region’s 1,246 pre-construction sales occurred in September.

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