House sales continue apace in Toronto.
My husband and I went so see a pleasant-but-tired property last night and the agent enlisted to show it to us was standing on the front porch when we pulled up precisely on schedule.
Meanwhile, two rival agents had gotten out of their cars at the same time and were converging on the house.
“Run!” my agent shouted at us, to laughs all around.
I'm guessing most Toronto agents are feeling mirthful these days.
Numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board show that sales in the Greater Toronto Area jumped 34 per cent in the first two weeks of October compared with the same period last year. The average price for these transactions increased 17 per cent year-over-year to $414,479.
Of course, it's an “easy comparison” as analysts says. In other words, it's not hard to show a marked improvement over the dismal showing we saw in the first two weeks of October last year.
Year-to-date, sales have risen 6 per cent compared with the same period in 2008 and the average price has edged up 2 per cent.
Jason Mercer, senior manager of market analysis for TREB, warns that prices will likely continue to climb in the final quarter of the year, because listings are so thin.
While homes have started rolling onto the market since Thanksgiving, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, they are still low.
Listings dropped 27 per cent in the GTA in September compared with the same month last year. In the first two weeks of October, the decline is 27 per cent year-over-year.
“They've kind of hovered in the same area since January,” says Mercer. “Listings haven't turned around yet.”
Next year, he figures, homeowners will be buoyed by the reports of higher prices and become more inclined to put their properties on the market.
Meanwhile, prospective buyers and their agents are stacked up, circling, like jets waiting to land at a busy airport.
cireland@globeandmail.com=
