■Condo & Rental Market Report | Q2 2019

Condo Market Report

July 24, 2019 -- Toronto Real Estate Board President Michael Collins announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 7,038 condominium apartment sales through TREB's MLS® System in the second quarter of 2019. This result was up by 3.2 per cent compared to Q2 of 2018.

New condominium apartment listings entered into TREB's MLS® System were down by 3.5 per cent compared to Q2 2018, with 11,110 listings added in 2019 versus 11,512 listings added in 2018.

"As has generally been the case in the region since the implementation of the Ontario Government's Fair Housing Plan in 2017, the condo market segment has remained tight in comparison to other major housing types. However, from a price point perspective, condo apartments continue to offer prospective buyers a relatively affordable housing option when looking across the GTA," said Mr. Collins.

The average price of a condominium apartment increased by 5.1 percent from $561,343 in Q2 2018 to $589,887 in Q2 2019. Year-over-year price growth in the City of Toronto, which accounted for almost 70 percent of transactions, was slightly higher at 5.9 per cent, resulting in an average price of $639,316.

Through the first six months of 2019, condominium apartment completions reported by CMHC were down substantially on a year-over-year basis compared to the first half of 2018. Completions correlate to a certain degree with listings, as some investors choose to list their units for sale when title transfers to them from the builder.

The downturn in completions likely influenced both the year-over-year dip in new listings and the decline in the active listings count at the end of the second quarter. "The condominium apartment rental market also remained quite tight in the second quarter, with average rents for one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments increasing above the rate of inflation on a year-over-year basis. However, we have seen an acceleration in the number of units listed for rent, which has provided renters with more choice in the market place and has coincided with a slower pace of average rent growth over the past year," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Chief Market Analyst.

Rental Market Report

July 4, 2019- Toronto Real Estate Board President Michael Collins announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 9,749 condominium apartment rental transactions through TREB’s MLS® System in the second quarter of 2019. This result was up by 14.9 per cent compared to Q2 2018. The number of condominium apartments that were listed at some point during the second quarter of 2019 was also up on a year-over-year basis by 28.8 percent, nearly doubling the annual growth rate for rental transactions, suggesting that the rental market became better supplied over the past year. “The GTA population continues to trend upward, as the region attracts people from around the world, both on a permanent and temporary basis, to take advantage of a diversity of employment opportunities. Many of these new comers and existing GTA households choose to rent. With this in mind, it makes sense that we continue to see strong year-over-year increases in the number of condominium apartments rented,” said Mr. Collins. The average Q2 2019 one-bedroom condominium apartment rent for the GTA as a whole was $2,192, up 6.7 percent compared to Q2 2018. Over the same period, the average two-bedroom condominium apartment rent increased by 4.3 per cent to $2,873. “While the rental market remains tight, renters do appear to be benefitting from more supply in the marketplace. The pace of year-over-year average rent growth has slowed over the past year. That being said, average condo rents continued to increase well-above the rate of inflation in the second quarter. This suggests that new rental supply, in terms of both purpose-built rental units and investor-owned condominium apartments, is still required in the GTA to keep up with population growth and new household formation,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Chief Market Analyst.