Toronto housing market still on fire

The country’s largest housing market continues to post double digit year over year price increases — likely meaning the national average will get a boost when the figure is released by the Canadian Real Estate Association on Dec. 15.

The Toronto Real Estate Association says the average price of a detached home in the 416 district climbed past the $750,000 mark. Detached home prices rose 12% from a year ago to $776,017. It’s a little cheaper in the suburbs with the average detached home in 905 selling for $540,299, a 10% jump from a year ago.

“We have seen strong annual growth through the 2011 fall market. The increase in transactions has been broad-based, with strong growth across low-rise and high-rise home types throughout the Greater Toronto Area,” said Richard Silver, president of TREB.

Sales across the GTA climbed to 7,092, an increase of 11.1% from a year ago. Supply kept pace with new listings climbing to 9,786 in November for a 14% jump from a year.

The numbers of days on the market has also been shrinking with the average home selling in 29 days, a 14.9% drop from the 34 days it took a year earlier.

The Toronto housing boom appears to be across all home types. In the semi-detached category there was an 11% price increase from year ago to $454,262 on a GTA wide basis. Townhouses were up in price 8% to an average of $367,727 while condo apartments prices also rose 8% during the same period to an average of $338,251.

Despite the surge, TREB maintains the GTA market remains affordable. “The correct method of assessing affordability is to consider the share of the average household’s income that is dedicated to mortgage principal and interest, property taxes and utilities,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s senior manager of market analysis. “Currently, this share remains in line with generally accepted lending guidelines.”