November housing sales in the Greater Toronto Area have doubled since the same month last year, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.
There were 7,446 sales of single family dwellings in November 2009, up significantly from the meagre 3,640 last year when the real estate market took a beating from the world-wide recession.
“This year in the GTA home sales will be in line with the healthy levels experienced between 2004 and 2006,” said TREB President Tom Lebour.
He added that the Canadian economy's marked third quarter rise from the recession's depths was partially influenced by the increase in housing sales not only in the GTA, but country-wide.
TREB statistics show that the average price for November transactions was up 14 per cent year-over-year to $418,460, while the average price year-to-date was up four per cent to $394,464.
The median price for a single family dwelling was $353,800 this year, up from the $312,250 recorded during November 2008.
The most popular price range for any single family dwelling, including condos and town houses, was $300,000 to $400,000.
The number of new listings had barely changed since last year, sitting comfortably at 9,923, but the number of active listings fell off by 49 per cent, from 27,037 to 13,827, with the increase in sales.
Jason Mercer, TREB's Senior Manager of Market Analysis, said, “Very strong annual growth rates for sales and average price should be expected through the first quarter of 2010, because we will be comparing the current recovery to the housing market decline experienced last winter.”
He further predicted that, “as we move into the spring, growth rates will move to more sustainable levels.”
