TREB reports record April sales

Every broker knows that spring is typically the best time to buy and sell homes – but new numbers suggest the busiest days for brokers may already be behind them.

Spring is typically the best time to buy and sell homes, with the latest figures from the Toronto Real Estate Board suggesting early spring was even better.

“Sales in April on the Toronto Real Estate Board were the biggest ever for an April,” said a Re/Max report. “It felt like a May sales month.

“April started slowly and we were only slightly ahead of last year in the first two weeks, but sales exploded over the second half of the month and produced a 17 per cent increase over last April.”

The new numbers come on the heels of a CMHC report released Monday that highlighted the impeding extinction of single-detached homes as many homes range in the $2-million range. The record numbers for the month of April also come as listings slow down significantly.

While new listings were up five per cent for the month of April, active listings are 10 per cent lower than for the same period last year. What’s more, there is only 1.5 months of inventory at current sales levels.

Condo sales continue to dominate the ideal property type for the downtown core as sales jumped 28 per cent and there is no sign of a slowdown, according to the report.
“Any concerns about an oversupply of condos can be dismissed,” said the report. “We are finding that more buyers are being forced into the condo market because of price and a lack of supply of low rise housing downtown.”

Investors in the Etobicoke-Lakeshore area are also taking advantage of a strong rental market with Humber College and access to transit.

“Investors are not selling but are renting their units instead,” said the report. “On the Etobicoke Waterfront, sales were up by 15 per cent for April. For the first two weeks of May, sales were 9.6 per cent higher than for the same period of 2014.

The previous record was set in 2007 when there were one million less people living in the GTA.