GTA new home market sees a very strong month in March

The GTA new home market saw a very strong month in March, with sales of both single-family homes and condominium units higher than last year and the 10-year average, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) reports.

Total March new home sales, with 5,003 units sold, were up 27 per cent from March 2020 and 37 per cent above the 10-year average, according to Altus Group, BILD’s official source for new home market intelligence.

Long-term needs

“The March new home sales figures prove what we’ve known all along: Demand for housing in this region isn’t going anywhere,” says Dave Wilkes, BILD president and CEO. “Even as we continue to battle the third wave of the pandemic, it is vital that we don’t lose sight of the long-term housing needs of the GTA and that we continue to work to remove barriers to building more supply.”

“The new condominium apartment market picked up the pace in March, as the spring market got underway,” adds Ryan Wyse, Altus Group’s manager, analytics, Data Solutions. “The number of units in new projects launched and the number of sales were both well above the March average of the past 10 years, and those newly launched projects saw particularly strong sales at opening.”

Condominium apartments, including units in low-, medium- and highrise buildings, stacked townhouses and loft units, accounted for 3,297 new home sales in March, up 11 per cent from March 2020 and 42 per cent above the 10-year average. It was the second highest March for condominium sales since 2000.

Sales of new single-family homes, including detached, linked and semi-detached houses and townhouses (excluding stacked townhouses), with 1,706 units sold, were up 75 per cent from last March and 27 per cent higher than the 10-year average.

The benchmark price for new single-family homes rose to $1.44 million, an increase of 29.4 per cent over the last 12 months, while new condominium units rose 8.3 per cent to $1.06 million.