The 2020 real estate market was a tricky year for condos in the Greater Toronto Area.
Low immigration levels, a lack of downtown renters and buyers turning their attention to the more spacious suburbs during lockdown didn’t make things easy for condo sales that year, causing prices to drop and inventory to rise. Towards the end of 2020 and into early 2021, the condo market quickly started to change course, posting double-digit annual sales growth by February 2021.
By the end of last year, the GTA condo market had made a significant comeback as Q4-2021 reported an all-time high for sales according to new data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB). Low supply in the region paved the way for the tightest market conditions seen in the last 20 years, pushing prices upward.
“In the early days of the pandemic, we saw a spike in condominium apartment listings and a brief lull in condo price growth,” said TRREB’s chief market analyst, Jason Mercer, in a press release. “The situation reversed dramatically in 2021, with the number of available units dropping in the face of strong demand. The resulting double-digit price growth will carry forward into 2022.”
In Q4-2021, a record 7,815 condo apartments were bought and sold in the GTA, up 21 per cent from the 6,462 units sold during Q4-2020. The City of Toronto reported the most condo sales in Q4-2021 with 5,336 transactions, followed by Peel Region and York Region where 1,048 and 883 units were sold during the same quarter.
When it comes to supply, the number of new listings entered into the TRREB MLS was down almost 29 per cent annually, falling from 12,305 listings in Q4-2020 to 8,758 properties in Q4-2021. By the end of December, active listings had decreased by almost two-thirds compared to the end of 2021. During the last quarter of 2021, the City of Toronto accounted for the majority of new properties coming online with 6,370 new listings, followed by Peel and York regions with 966 and 862 new condos added to MLS.
Market competition between buyers thanks to low inventory accelerated price growth in the fourth quarter. The average selling price of a condo apartment in the GTA surged by 16.4 per cent year-over-year to $710,087. In Q4-2021, the average price of a condo apartment was the most expensive in the City of Toronto at $739,683. Halton Region reported the second-most expensive condos at an average price of $695,342, followed by York Region and “Other Areas” in the GTA at $689,846 and $626,530, respectively.
“The resurgence in the condo market was a key real estate story for 2021,” said TRREB president Kevin Crigger in the press release.
“First-time buyers, who arguably remained on the sidelines longer than existing home buyers during the earlier stages of the pandemic, re-entered the market with vigour last year. Condo demand will be robust in 2022 as well, with the expected increases in immigration and temporary migration into the GTA,” he added.
