Strong year by Branden Williams

TREB just prepared a new issue of their regular Market Watch report, confirming a strong year ahead.

One look at the February 2010 sales results will help you to make a clear picture. With 7,291 items sold, there was 77% growth in sales compared to February 2009 and almost 50% growth compared to the January 2010 results. But everybody who read the mid-month report could expect it.

The average price went up 19% to $431,000. 12,726 new properties appeared on the market (24% more compared to the year before), rising thus the overall number of MLS listings to 14,514. However, it's still 32% less than in February 2009. But you don't have to be afraid that you may have problem selling your property – quite the opposite. We noticed record drop in terms of the Days on Market indicator – from 28 in January to 22 in February (and 45 the year before). This indicator hasn't been so low for months.

TREB President Tom Lebour commented: “Increases in existing home sales and average price were noted across the GTA in low-rise and high-rise hometypes. Similar rates of growth were experienced in the City of Toronto and surrounding 905 regions. This suggests that first time, move-up and down sizing buyers are all active in the existing home marketplace.”

However, slowly rising number of new listings suggests that the market will become more moderate later in 2010, when new listings should start to outstrip the sales growth.