Toronto Real Estate Prices Are Dropping Up To $2,100 Per Day

Toronto real estate is finding out how fickle gold-rush buyers are when looking for property. Numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) show that sales are experiencing rapid cooling. The rapid drop in sales is spooking buyers, and sending prices substantially lower in just one month.

Benchmark Prices Dropped $37,700

Toronto real estate prices are losing ground, and fast. The composite benchmark price across TREB fell to $773,000, an 18% increase from the same time last year. That’s $37,700 lower than it was last month. In the 416 area, prices fell to $807,800, a 20.1% increase from the same time last year. This is down $21,700 from the month before. The benchmark price is softer, but prices are actually still showing pretty steep gains. A hot market typically posts 2-3% gains when inflation adjusted, so this should really highlight how out of whack Toronto real estate prices are right now.

The composite benchmark remained up in all neighbourhoods, but declined from the month before in almost all. The biggest declines were observed in the Bathurst Manor area (TREB C06), where the benchmark prices fell $64,300 in just one month. The composite price of a home in that neighbourhood is now $1,081,000, still a 17.98% gain from the year before. The second largest drop was observed in the schmancy area of Lawrence Park North (TREB C12), where the benchmark fell $58,900 from the month before. The benchmark price in that neighbourhood is now $1,947,800, still up 16.96% from the same time last year.

Toronto Average Price (Composite)Average PriceDecember 2014March 2015June 2015September 2015December 2015March 2016June 2016September 2016December 2016March 2017June 2017$500,000$625,000$750,000$875,000$1,000,000MonthCanadian Dollars

Month	Average Price
December 2014	556,602
January 2015	552,575
February 2015	596,163
March 2015	613,933
April 2015	635,932
May 2015	649,599
June 2015	639,184
July 2015	609,236
August 2015	602,607
September 2015	627,395
October 2015	630,876
November 2015	632,685
December 2015	609,110
January 2016	631,092
February 2016	685,278
March 2016	688,181
April 2016	739,082
May 2016	751,908
June 2016	746,546
July 2016	709,825
August 2016	710,410
September 2016	755,755
October 2016	762,975
November 2016	776,684
December 2016	730,472
January 2017	770,745
February 2017	875,983
March 2017	916,567
April 2017	919,614
May 2017	863,910
June 2017	793,915
July 2017	746,218

Source: TREB.

Listings Increased 5.1%

Inventory is building much faster across TREB. New listings hit 14,171, a 5.1% increase from the same time last year. Active listings across TREB stood at 18,751, a massive 65.3% increase from last year. Much of this has to do with buyers taking a little longer, as the average time to purchase increased over 31% to 21 days. We’re still finding some gaming of the active listings and days on market, but not nearly as much as in 2016.

Toronto Sales Vs. ListingsSalesNew ListingsDecember 2014March 2015June 2015September 2015December 2015March 2016June 2016September 2016December 2016March 2017June 201707,50015,00022,50030,000MonthComposite Listings

Month	Sales	New Listings
December 2014	4,446	4,448
January 2015	4,355	9,596
February 2015	6,338	10,503
March 2015	8,940	15,531
April 2015	11,303	18,117
May 2015	11,706	18,697
June 2015	11,992	17,746
July 2015	9,880	14,699
August 2015	7,998	12,628
September 2015	8,200	16,077
October 2015	8,804	13,339
November 2015	7,385	9,609
December 2015	4,945	4,783
January 2016	4,672	8,957
February 2016	7,621	11,275
March 2016	10,326	14,864
April 2016	12,085	16,252
May 2016	12,870	17,412
June 2016	12,794	16,980
July 2016	9,989	13,542
August 2016	9,813	12,409
September 2016	9,902	15,111
October 2016	9,768	13,377
November 2016	8,547	10,518
December 2016	5,338	4,188
January 2017	5,188	7,338
February 2017	8,014	9,834
March 2017	12,077	17,051
April 2017	11,630	21,630
May 2017	10,196	25,837
June 2017	7,974	19,680
July 2017	5,921	14,171

Source: TREB.

Sales Dropped Over 40%

Sales showed sharp declines across the TREB. July saw 5,921 sales, a 40.4% decline from the same time last year. Breaking that number down, the 416 saw 2,282 of those sales, a 34% decline from last year. The 905 (a.k.a. the ‘burbs) saw 3,549 sales, a 44% decline from the same time last year. Sales dropped across the whole GTA, but there was a much bigger drop in the suburbs of Toronto.

It may not be the super hot market the city saw just three months ago, but the only people impacted at this point are recent buyers. Although the more prices drop, the harder it is to attract new buyers since… who wants to catch a falling knife? Over the next few days, we’ll break down the market by segment, to give more detailed insights.