GTA Housing Market in June

By Elli Davis, July 12, 2012

Toronto by Guilhem Vellut

The first half of 2012 is over already. Housing-wise, this year seems to have been greatly successful for the Greater Toronto Area. It truly was all about increases — until June, that is. As the new housing report shows, for the first time in 2012 home sales in the GTA have recorded a year-to-year decline.

As Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 9,422 homes were sold through the Toronto MLS system last month. Compared to June 2011 and its 9,959 transactions, it is a 5.4 per cent decline. The records show the City of Toronto was the main contributor to this decrease, since it reported about a 13 per cent year-to-year drop. The Land Transfer Tax may well be the reason why homes in our city are not as desirable at the moment, according to TREB President Ann Hannah. Many people want to avoid paying the tax and they therefore choose a home outside Toronto.

The average price for a transaction in June 2012 was $508,622 — up 7.3 per cent from $474,223 recorded a year ago. The number of new listings has shown an increase this past month. New listings went up from 14,755 to 16,679 over the year (a 13 percent rise) and active listings increased by 13.7 percent, from 18,102 to 20,583.

Posted in Toronto Real Estate News | No Comments »