Another Record Falls! 6,743 Sales in August

Friday, September 3, 2004-Toronto’s resale market felt the heat in August, with 6,743 homes changing hands, the most ever recorded for the month. Transactions were up three per cent over the previous record of 6,549 sales, set in August of 2003, TREB President Ron Abraham announced today.

Meanwhile, prices continued to ease, falling two per cent to $304,509 from the $312,418 recorded in July. “The declines of the last couple of months are entirely seasonal in nature, and year-over-year prices are still up seven per cent over 2003,” Mr. Abraham noted, With people on holidays, and a fairly healthy level of inventory (22,204 active listings at the end of July), this was bound to occur.

Going into fall market, Mr. Abraham saw nothing but continued good news ahead. “With 1.1 per cent growth in the second quarter, the Canadian economy is still strong, inflation is still holding steady in the two per cent range and interest rates remain historically low. So the Toronto resale market should continue to perform at or near record levels.

I predict that 2004 will be the first year where sales exceed 80,000 dwellings.”
Breaking down the total, 2,573 sales were reported in TREB’s 28 West districts and averaged $290,042; 1,103 sales were reported in the 14 Central districts and averaged $349,827; 1,425 sales were reported in the 23 North districts and averaged $350,197; and 1,642 sales were reported in TREB’s 21 East districts and averaged $257,088.

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* Please note that TREB counts by business or sales days. In a 30 day month, there will usually be about 20 sales days, depending on when the weekends fall, holidays,
and so on.