GTA Prices Up, Sales Down

According to GTA Realtors, April has started off in a promising manner, although sales in the first two weeks have actually dropped by 3% year-over –year. Similarly, there was a drop of 21% year-over-year in the number of new listings
There is hope that April will finish with a bang, though. “Sales activity was quite strong during the first two weeks of April. If this level of activity is sustained for the remainder of the month, we could see April transactions close to last year’s record result. Positive economic news has kept households confident in their ability to purchase and pay for a home over the long term,” said TREB President Bill Johnston.

While listings and sales numbers have dropped, average prices have increased. According to TREB’s report the average selling price for firm deals reported through the first two weeks of April was $483,165; this signals a 12 % increase over the average price of $430,271 year-over -year.

“The number of homes listed for sale so far in 2011 has been below expectations. Market conditions have tightened, resulting in increased competition between home buyers and accelerating rates of average price growth,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.
There is incentive to jump into the market now, and they are banking on the lure of price appreciation to bring more sellers to market: “The strong rate of price growth reported for the first two weeks of April should entice more households to list their homes for sale. This would result in more balanced market conditions and more moderate rates of price growth,” continued Mercer.