Condo Prices Skyrocketing in Halton and Beyond

Published January 23, 2018 at 9:18 pm

Condos, the last bastion of “affordable housing” in a hot real estate market, are becoming significantly more expensive.

In fact, prices have climbed close to 20 per cent.  

Condos, the last bastion of “affordable housing” in a hot real estate market, are becoming significantly more expensive.

In fact, prices have climbed close to 20 per cent.  

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) recently announced that GTA realtors reported 5,773 condominium apartment sales through TREB’s MLS system in the fourth quarter of 2017–down by 15.4 per cent compared to the last three months of 2016.

Over the same period, new condominium apartment listings were up by 9.8 per cent to hit 8,186.  

TREB says that while sales were down relative to listings, market conditions still remained tight, with a sales-to-new listings ratio of 70 per cent.

“Demand for condominium apartments remained strong relative to listings in the fourth quarter.  Even with the uptick in listings, which was certainly welcome, there was enough competition between buyers to prompt double-digit annual rates of price growth,” says Tim Syrianos, TREB president. “This points to the fact that we still do have a supply problem in the GTA that needs to be addressed to ensure the long term sustainability of the marketplace.”

As far as prices go, condos are costing buyers a lot more.

TREB says the average selling price for condominium apartments was up by 17.9 per cent year-over-year in the fourth quarter to a shocking $515,816.  

While this annual rate of growth was down from earlier in 2017, the condominium apartment segment was still the leader in terms of price growth in the second half of the year.

“Seller’s market conditions remained in place for the condominium apartment market segment in the fourth quarter. Based on price point, this housing type remains top of mind for many first-time buyers,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s director of market analysis. “In addition, as home prices have grown year-over-year some buyers who initially may have considered the purchase of a low-rise home have chosen to purchase a condo apartment as well.”

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