TORONTO – Home sales rose in the GTA last month on a year-over-year basis, as recent interest rate cuts (and resulting mortgage affordability) appear to be luring buyers back into the market. 

In fact, 5,875 homes were sold across the Greater Toronto Area in November, up 40.1 per cent from 4,194 in the same month last year, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB); month-over-month sales were up 1.9 per cent from October on a seasonally adjusted basis; the median sales price increased 2.6 per cent from the previous year to $1,106,050; and the composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, fell 1.2 per cent year-over-year, a much slower rate of annual decline than in previous months.

“As we approach the end of 2024, I am pleased to report an improvement in housing market conditions. Many home buyers patiently waited on the sidelines for reduced inflation and lower borrowing costs. With selling prices remaining well off their historic peak and monthly mortgage payments trending lower, the stage is set for an accelerating market recovery in 2025” said Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) President Jennifer Pearce.

The Greater Toronto Area home sales data for November (all the details are in the TRREB report that you can read and/or download from here: mw2411) are in line with trends seen in other major cities, particularly Vancouver, where the number of homes “changing hands” last month increased by 28.1% year-over-year.

Sales figures have risen nationwide in recent months, marking a shift from the market’s wait-and-see pattern. And the Bank of Canada is expected to cut rates for the fifth consecutive time at its final meeting of the year on Dec. 11. The rate is currently at 3.75 percent, down from the 5 percent level at the start of the year that had deterred many potential buyers from the housing market.

Vy Ngo, a sales representative for Big City Realty Inc. Brokerage, said the Bank of Canada’s half-percentage rate cut on Oct. 23 was the tipping point the market had been waiting for: it was enough to motivate buyers after the GTA essentially “didn’t have a summer or spring market. All the buyers were on the sidelines waiting for rates to come down” Ngo said. “I’m hoping that in December, there will be another rate cut. That will definitely fuel the market even more” she added, according The Canadian Press.

Back to the numbers, there were 11,592 new listings across the GTA last month, up 6.6% from a year earlier. In the City of Toronto, there were 2,236 sales in November, up 40.5% from a year earlier. Across the rest of the GTA, home sales increased 39.8% to 3,639.

All property types saw higher sales in November compared to a year earlier across the Greater Toronto Area, with townhomes leading the way with 46% more sales, followed by single-family homes at 43.9% and condos at 36.3%, while 24.9% more duplexes changed hands year-over-year.

Transactions have reached their highest level since May 2023, when the Bank of Canada paused its interest rate hike cycle, notes National Bank economist Daren King. In short, there is more confidence. And less fear in taking out a mortgage.

The photo above is from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) website – https://trreb.ca/