Thanks to an extremely hot first half of the year last year, the Toronto housing market saw very little change from 2011 to 2012. While prices did dip somewhat, overall there was very little change in 2012 from the year before. This may come as a surprise to some, as the latter part of 2012 saw declines in both sales, and later on, even prices. It seemed as though we lived through it for a very long time; but in fact, we didn’t. The first part of the year, before the new mortgage rules came into effect, the market was super hot. And that largely made up any difference that was seen between the two years.
The chart above can be broken down into the following data provided from the Toronto Real Estate Board:
- Resale Toronto home prices saw the biggest increase of 7 per cent, jumping up to $497,298 last year.
- The average price of a condo in the GTA dropped nearly a full percentage point to $325,726; with condos in the “416” core seeing a bigger slide of $342,847.
TREB also announced that in 2012 there were a total of 85,731 homes that changed hands. That’s a 7 per cent drop from 2011, when 89,096 homes changed hands.
Of course, the numbers will most likely be drastically different next year. While 2012 can still be considered a hot year, with the effects of the mortgage rules not really being seen until October, 2013 will most likely be much cooler. Not only are the mortgage rules now fully into effect, both the federal government’s and the OSFI’s, but interest rates are also going to increase at some point.
Even if that doesn’t happen this year, buyers and borrowers are becoming increasingly concerned about it simply because it does have to happen at some point. Come this September, rates will have been at their historic lows for three years.
