October housing activity confirms consumer confidence in real estate market

Resale housing activity substantially outpaced mid-October results from a year ago, Toronto Real Estate Board President Maureen O’Neill announced today.
“There were 3,297 sales reported to mid-month, which is a 10 per cent increase over the 3,007 homes sold during the same period last year,” Ms. O’Neill said. “We are on course to rival October’s best result, which was in 2003 with 7,227 sales.”
In Riverdale (E01) the number of transactions to mid-month jumped 29 per cent compared to the same timeframe a year ago due to strong sales in all housing types.
Streetsville East (W19) saw a significant increase in the sale of semi-detached homes, which helped push overall sales up 48 per cent compared to mid-October 2006.
A combination of strong condominium and detached home transactions drove Willowdale’s (C07) mid-month sales to an overall increase of 83 per cent.
At the northern edge of TREB’s reporting area, Innisfil (N23) saw sales to mid-month double as compared mid-October 2006, driven mainly by the sale of detached homes.
Meanwhile, the average price rose to $399,013, up nine per cent over the $364,364 recorded to the middle of September. This figure is also 13 per cent higher than the first half of October last year when the average price stood at $353,677.
“While mid-month figures simply provide a snapshot of current activity, we are encouraged that sales remain robust. The activity we have seen this autumn shows that consumers continue to have a great deal of well-founded confidence in the housing market,” said Ms. O’Neill. “There’s no question that home ownership is the best long-term investment you can make.”
However, if the City of Toronto imposes a second land transfer tax, this could have far reaching impacts on the City’s economy. “A doubling of land transfer taxes could impact the market and will reduce the amount of money home buyers spend,” noted Ms. O’Neill.
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Source: Toronto Real Estate Board