Photo by Eric Skiff

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) has published market data for the first two weeks of March 2011. 4,138 home sales were reported during the first half of the month, which is a 5 per cent year-over-year decline. The number of new listings went down as well, decreasing by 15 per cent compared to the first two weeks of March 2010.

"A positive economic outlook for the Greater Toronto Area, including steady growth in jobs and incomes, has kept households confident in their ability to purchase and pay for a home over the long term," says Bill Johnston, president of TREB.

Home prices went up nationally and Toronto's local market was no exception. The average price for transactions in the first half of this month was $460,196, rising 4.6 per cent from the same time period of last year.

According to Jason Mercer, TREB's Senior Manager of Market Analysis, the current market conditions are tighter than they were in March 2010, "resulting in more competition between buyers and sustained upward pressure on the average selling price."

Mercer further predicts that the annual price growth rate in Toronto will range between three and five per cent for the remainder of 2011.