TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug 4, 2016) - Toronto Real Estate Board President Larry Cerqua announced that TREB REALTOR® Members reported 9,989 home sales through TREB's MLS® System in July 2016. At just shy of 10,000 transactions, this was the best result on record for the month of July.

While sales were up on a year-over-year basis, the number of new listings was down over the same period, representing the continuation of a troubling trend in the GTA.

"GTA REALTORS® have been working very hard on behalf of their buyer clients to help them find a home meeting their needs. Unfortunately, listings for single-detached and semi-detached houses and town houses continue to be in short supply. The result has been an increase in pent-up demand and annual rates of price increases well above the rate of inflation. Housing policy is now top of mind for all levels of government. Policy makers need to be focusing on solutions to the sustained lack of low-rise inventory throughout the GTA," said Mr. Cerqua.

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark was up by 16.7 per cent in July 2016 compared to the same month a year earlier. Similarly, the average selling price for all home types combined was up by 16.6 per cent year-over-year to $709,825.

"Relatively strong labour market conditions, above-inflation average income growth, and record low borrowing costs have kept many households confident about purchasing a home. As long as very strong buying intentions are up against an extreme shortage of listings, expect home price growth to greatly outpace the rate of inflation," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Director of Market Analysis.

Summary of TorontoMLS Sales and Average Price July 1 - 31, 2016
2016 2015
Sales Average Price New Listings Sales Average Price New Listings
City of Toronto ("416") 3,500 690,103 4,877 3,459 617,540 5,660
Rest of GTA ("905") 6,489 720,462 8,665 6,354 604,158 8,965
GTA 9,989 709,825 13,542 9,813 608,875 14,625
TorontoMLS Sales & Average Price By Home Type July 1 - 31, 2016
Sales Average Price
416 905 Total 416 905 Total
Detached 954 3,699 4,653 1,202,753 888,565 952,983
Yr./Yr. % Change -6.5 % 0.8 % -0.8 % 20.7 % 21.9 % 21.1 %
Semi-Detached 285 678 963 855,881 588,947 667,946
Yr./Yr. % Change -11.5 % 2.6 % -2.0 % 19.5 % 17.9 % 17.1 %
Townhouse 346 1,202 1,548 584,693 521,584 535,690
Yr./Yr. % Change -6.0 % 3.3 % 1.0 % 9.0 % 16.1 % 13.9 %
Condo Apartment 1,882 783 2,665 427,074 358,291 406,865
Yr./Yr. % Change 9.2 % 12.8 % 10.3 % 8.2 % 13.0 % 9.2 %
July 2016 Year-Over-Year Per Cent Change in the MLS® HPI
Composite (All Types) Single-Family Detached Single-Family Attached Townhouse Apartment
TREB Total 16.73 % 19.31 % 18.14 % 14.68 % 9.35 %
Halton Region 17.45 % 17.90 % 18.88 % 11.93 % -
Peel Region 17.31 % 17.95 % 18.20 % 14.88 % 13.70 %
City of Toronto 13.35 % 17.22 % 15.12 % 13.29 % 8.52 %
York Region 21.34 % 23.51 % 20.65 % 17.12 % 9.18 %
Durham Region 20.43 % 20.44 % 21.87 % 19.18 % 10.12 %
Orangeville 19.16 % 19.64 % 18.34 % - -
South Simcoe
County1 20.32 % 20.91 % 19.85 % - -

Greater Toronto REALTORS® are passionate about their work. They are governed by a strict Code of Ethics and share a state- of-the-art Multiple Listing Service. Over 45,000 residential and commercial TREB Members serve consumers in the Greater Toronto Area. TREB is Canada's largest real estate board.

www.TREBhome.com

Media Inquiries:
Mary Gallagher
Senior Manager Public Affairs
(416) 443-8158
maryg@trebnet.com