Julia Metus
REALTOR™, AEA, SRS, PSA, CLHMS™, GUILD™
Realty Executives Plus Ltd.
Having the February Blues? If you were selling your home in Toronto this month, you may have missed this annual affliction!
The GTA saw 3500 sales through the Toronto Real Estate Board MLS® System in the first two weeks of February 2016 - a 13.5% increase compared to the same time frame in 2015. The annual rate of sales growth were strongest for Condominium apartments, followed by semi-detached and detached houses.
The average selling price in the GTA for the first two weeks of February was $677,380 with 3500 sales and 5316 new listings versus $601,943 with 3083 sales and 5252 new listings for the same period in 2015.
The City of Toronto 416 area, the average sale rose from $641,484 with 1164 sales and 2161 new listings from Feb 1 - 15, 2015 to a new average of $720,792 with 1344 sales and 2168 new listings in the same period in 2016.
The Feds introduced new downpayment rules effective February 15th. Properties selling for less than $500,000 will be remain at a miniumum of 5%, however, the portion of the sale price from $500,000 to $1 million will require a 10% downpayment. The new rules also leave the minimum down payment for more expensive homes unchanged at 20 per cent. Finance Minister Bill Morneau stated at an Ottawa press conference that “This is going to help create stability for the overall market by targeting pockets of risk,” He also indicated that government expects the changes to affect just 1 per cent of the market or less.
With low inventories and interest rates, well priced units in are not spending much time on the market. I am forcasting that this Spring market will be very active.
Click here to review the January 2016 Market results from the Toronto Real Estate Board.
