Ontario homes lead national price growth
February 26, 2021
Homes in Ontario continue to be the star performers in Canada in terms of home price growth.
According to the latest Royal LePage House Price Survey, the aggregate price of a home in Canada increased 9.7 per cent year-over-year to $708,842 in the fourth quarter of 2020, as strong sellers’ market conditions continued to shape real estate markets through the end of the year. The significant year-over-year increase in aggregate price was driven by price gains for larger properties.
When broken out by housing type, the median price of a standard two-storey home rose 11.2 per cent year-over-year to $840,628, bungalows increased 10 per cent to $592,899. Condominiums, meanwhile, rose 3.9 per cent to $509,239. Price data, which includes both resale and new build, is provided by Royal LePage’s sister company, RPS Real Property Solutions.
Sharp recovery
“In April 2020, we issued our pandemic period forecast for Canadian real estate, the principle prediction being that unexpectedly soft spring home prices, historically low interest rates, and years of pent-up demand would trigger a sharp recovery of sales volumes and rising property prices in the second half of the year,” says Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage.
“As we close the books on the strangest year in my long career, ‘recovery’ proved to be an understatement. Looking at fourth quarter results we can state without hyperbole that the health crisis triggered a real estate boom.
Double-digit growth
Ontario posted the highest year-over-year aggregate home price gains in dollar value during the fourth quarter. In Markham, for example, aggregate prices increased $133,932 to $1.1 million, the highest dollar value increase. Markham was followed by Vaughan, which increased by $132,699 to $1.13 million; Burlington increased by $115,475 to $950,796; Pickering by $110,905 to $856,725; and Oakville prices increased by $109,912 to $1.21 million.
The aggregate price of a home in the GTA increased 10.4 per cent year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2020, to $936,510. Standard two-storey home prices rose 11.9 per cent to $1.1 million, bungalows 12.8 per cent to $923,047 and condos 3.6 per cent to $593,811.
Royal LePage projects that the aggregate price of GTA homes will increase 5.75 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to the same quarter in 2020.