Existing-home sales in Toronto, Canada, during August climbed 11 percent from a year ago, making it the best August ever, the Toronto Real Estate Board announced today.
Realtors reported 7,498 sales last month, up from 6,743 in August 2004.
“We have seen strong sales figures all summer and this record-breaking performance is further evidence of the market’s consistency throughout the season,” said TREB President John Meehan. “These figures represent the third-straight record August dating back to 2003. Consumers are demonstrating increasing confidence in the summer season as a great time to buy or sell a home and the market is reflecting that.”
The increase in the overall August market generated pockets of particularly high activity in neighborhoods within the city of Toronto as well as its surrounding regions.
In the East, townhome sales helped Whitby record 38 percent more transactions during the month, compared to August 2004.
The Islington/Kingsway area of Etobicoke saw a sales increase of 60 percent over last August.
The Bayview Village/Hillcrest Village area of North York showed a 28 percent increase in the number of transactions compared to last August, fueled by sales of condominiums.
North of the city, Richmond Hill continued to be very active, showing a 25 percent increase. The North end of the town showed particularly strong activity, as the number of homes changing hands there jumped 103 percent over August of last year.
The median price for a home in the Greater Toronto area at the end of August was $285,000, up 5 percent from a year ago.
The continued strength of the summer market has also nudged year-to-date total sales closer to last year’s record numbers, the association reported. The total of 59,320 transactions so far this year is just 1.5 percent shy of the number of homes that had changed hands by the end of August 2004.
The Toronto Real Estate Board serves more than 22,000 Realtors throughout the Greater Toronto area.
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