GTA home sales fall in May while prices climb: TREB

The number of home sales in the Greater Toronto Area slid last month but the average price of homes rose.

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) says that the number of home sales fell 3.4-per cent to 10,182 in May from the same period a year earlier across the region. In Toronto specifically, TREB said home sales fell 4.6 per cent to 3,840 homes in May.

Meanwhile, the average selling price in the GTA was $542,174, up 5.4 per cent in May compared with $514,467 in May 2012. The average selling price in Toronto rose to $600,791 in May, up 6.1 per cent from a year ago.

The jump in price was driven by a tight low-rise segment of the market and particularly by single-detached and semi-detached home sales in Toronto.

TREB senior manager of market analysis Jason Mercer told CityNews that while home sales have been down since last June, the rate of decline has gotten smaller.

The declines corresponded with stricter mortgage lending guidelines that prompted some buyers to put home purchases on hold but now they’re back in the market, he said.

Sales of single-detached homes in the GTA were up by almost 1 per cent in May compared to the same period a year earlier, including a three per cent year-over-year increase in Toronto.

Detached homes sold for an average price of $864,536 in Toronto in May, while semi-detached went for $633,625. Condo townhouses sold for $404,957 in May and condos, $372,768. Attached/row/townhouses went for an average $566,076.

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