October brought some positives for the new homes market in the Greater Toronto Area with sales and openings gaining. A report from the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) shows that there were 2,805 condominium  partments in low, medium and high-rise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units sold in October (Altus Group data). Although down 44% from October 2017 the figure was only 1% below the ten-year average. For single-family homes, there was no change from a year ago and sales were 64% below the 10-year average.

“The pickup in interest from builders and home buyers that started to emerge in the GTA new home market in September gained momentum in October,” said Patricia Arsenault, Altus Group’s Executive Vice President, Data Solutions. “October was the best month we’ve seen this year not only in terms of sales—for both single-family homes and condominium apartments—but also new project openings. And for both sales and new openings, the increases from last month were stronger than the typical seasonal pattern.”

Condo prices gain year-over-year The benchmark price of new homes in the GTA in October eased slightly month-over-month but for condo apartments there was a year-over-year gain of 14.5% to $775,537. The benchmark for single-family homes was down 8.4% year-over-year to $1,115,824, although this can be explained by the smaller benchmark size of units available for sale.

David Wilkes, president and CEO of BILD says the market is returning to more typical activity levels, an encouraging sign. “It’s clear that when we are able to bring on more supply and give new home buyers more product to choose from, they get excited and motivated about making that choice,” he said. “That’s why we are especially heartened by the new provincial government’s commitment to increasing housing supply through its Housing Supply Action Plan,” he said.