April showers don’t dampen home sales

TORONTO, April 18, 2007 -- The GTA resale housing market got off to a strong start in April, with mid-month sales coming in one per cent ahead of mid-April 2006, Toronto Real Estate Board President Dorothy Mason announced today.

The 4,175 transactions recorded in the first half of the month surpass the mid-April total of 4,140 sales recorded in 2006. Meanwhile, year-to-date figures for 2007 are nearly two per cent ahead of last year’s pace.

“We are very encouraged by the stability of the GTA market,” Mrs. Mason said. “Activity is strong yet controlled, and great economic fundamentals continue to keep things moving in the right direction.”

The average price of a home in the GTA reached $372,169 in the first half of April, up one per cent over the same timeframe in April 2006 when prices averaged $366,878. The median price rose three per cent to $315,000. Active listings were down five per cent from the same time in 2006, to 22,711.

Strong activity across all housing types in the Beach (E02) helped push overall sales up 44 per cent compared to mid-April of 2006.

The condo boom in Mississauga’s city centre (W15) was largely responsible for an overall sales increase of 41 per cent in the area, compared to mid-April of last year.

Toronto’s Forest Hill neighbourhood (C03) saw 54 per cent more overall transactions than to the same point a year ago, fueled mostly by detached home sales.

In Bayview Village / Hillcrest Village (C15), overall transactions increased by 36 per cent compared to the same timeframe in 2006.

“Consumers are showing a lot of confidence in this market,” Mrs. Mason said. “Their investments are showing steady returns, yet the market is still accessible to a variety of buyers.”

Toronto REALTORS® are passionate about their work. They adhere to a strict code of ethics and share a state-of-the-art Multiple Listing Service designed exclusively for REALTORS®. Serving more than 25,000 Members in the Greater Toronto Area, the Toronto Real Estate Board is Canada's largest real estate board. Greater Toronto Area open house listings are now available on www.TorontoRealEstateBoard.com.

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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.