GTA Real Estate Market April 2023 Summary

As per the April 2023 TRREB Market Watch Report, the GTA housing market continued to tighten. Fewer listings relative to sales increased competition between buyers. This resulted in an improvement in Spring 2023 home selling prices since the start of the year.

While the selling prices are gradually picking up, they are still below last year levels. Many buyers have come to terms with higher borrowing costs and are took advantage of the lower selling prices in April. This trend is continuing for the month of May.

There were 7,531 sales reported through the MLS® System in April 2023. This number is down by 5.2% compared to April 2022. The average selling price in the GTA was $1,153,269 in April 2023, which is down 7.8% compared to $1,250,704 in April 2022.

Renewed competition between buyers is once again shining the spotlight on the persistent lack of listings and resulting impact on affordability. – TRREB.

As you can see in the table above, the green and yellow highlighted portions show the highest and lowest price points respectively to date (2021-2023). One of the major contributors for the growth in prices leading to the peak price in 2022 was low interest rates, in addition to low number of listings resulting in lower home sale counts, but higher prices.

It is quite possible that we can surpass the highest price, as long as we have the following scenarios:

1. The number of listings do not increase which would maintain a pressure on the prices as there will be a lack of supply and due to demand the prices will go up.
2. Bank of Canada does not increase interest rates. This is crucial are people are already struggling with increased payments and many renewals are coming up and people are not able to adjust to larger monthly payments.
3. The supply of immigration keeps coming in like in the past two years, which has been a record number of immigrants. This again creates a lot of demand. Investors come back into the market to buy properties, with the  increased rental demand.

These three factors can help surpass the last peak point quicker, though eventually the previous peak price is always surpassed as property prices keep climbing with time.

2003 Q1 Condo Market Report

The condo apartment sales and the average selling price were lower in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

There were 4,519 condominium apartment sales reported through the MLS® System in Q1 2023. This number is down by 42.9% compared to the 7,909 sales reported in Q1 2022. The average price of a condo apartment sold in Q1 2023 was $700,566, which is 11.4% below the average price of $790,418 in Q1 2022.

Strong population growth, tight rental market conditions and improved first-time buying intentions are expected to result in renewed growth in condo sales in the GTA.

2003 Q1 Rental Market Report

While the market benefited from an increase in listings, competition between renters was fast and furious, with average rents growing by double-digit or high single-digit annual rates.

The GTA condominium rental market continues to be a key source of rental supply, helping accommodate record population growth in Canada.

There were 10,525 condo apartment rentals reported through the MLS® System in the first quarter of 2023. This is up by 4% compared to Q1 2022. There was a 15.1%  year-over-year increase in the average one-bedroom condominium apartment rent, amounting to $2,474. The average two-bedroom rent increased by 9.2% over the same period to $3,162.

If you are an investor looking to tap into the current GTA condo market, now is a good time! Read our last blog post where we talk about Real Estate Lessons for Individual Investors based on recent financial market developments, for a bigger bang for your buck.

Planning to Sell, Buy or Invest?

Contact Team Kalia to Buy or Sell Your GTA Property