Home sales up 25% from last year, but supply remains low: Toronto real estate board

TRREB's numbers showed that the average price of a townhome moved up 2.5 per cent to $1,003,152, while detached homes increased by under one per cent to $1,556,566.

The slowdown in Toronto’s housing market continued to slip away last month as home sales came in higher than they were a year ago and prices edged closer to pandemic highs.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board found May’s home sales amounted to 9,012, up 25 per cent from a year earlier and 20 per cent from April.

Jason Mercer, TRREB’s chief market analyst, took the numbers as a sign that demand for home ownership has picked up markedly in recent months, after many prospective buyers moved to the sidelines, when interest rates were hiked eight times in a rapid succession.

“Many homebuyers have recalibrated their housing needs in the face of higher borrowing costs and are moving back into the market,” he said, in a release.

“In addition, strong rent growth and record population growth on the back of immigration has also supported increased home sales.”

However, sellers appear to still be awaiting higher prices and have not moved to list their homes at the same pace as buyers have shifted back to the market.

However, the month also showed that supply is not keeping up with demand as new listings were still well below May 2022’s level.

Last month’s new listings totalled 15,194, almost 19 per cent lower than they were a year prior.