TORONTO – The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says January home sales were down 44.6 per cent from the same month a year ago, falling in line with expectations as the number of sales and average selling price were similar to December 2022.
Sales for January totalled 3,100, down from 5,594 a year earlier, while the average selling price was down 16.4 per cent at $1.04 million, as the impact of higher borrowing costs continued to reverberate across the housing market.
New listings were down 3.7 per cent year over year at 7,688, but were up from 4,074 in December, while active listings were up 124.6 per cent from last year.
The Bank of Canada announced a rate hike last week of a quarter of a percentage point, bringing its key rate to 4.5 per cent, while signalling it’s ready to pause hikes for the time being.
Paul Baron, the real estate board’s president, said in a press release that this pause, coupled with home sales and prices appearing to find some support recently, may prompt some buyers to move off the sidelines in the coming months.
The real estate board’s chief market analyst, Jason Mercer, said while short-term borrowing costs increased again in January, negotiated medium-term mortgage rates are actually starting to trend lower, a trend he expects will continue and help with affordability in 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2023.
