April 2011 – Sales booming, prices steady in The Beach

Gardener's Cottage, Kew Gardens

In April, homes sold fast and in large quantities in east Toronto, although prices remained fairly stable. Bidding wars were commonplace as demand exceeded housing supply in The Beach, Upper Beach, Riverdale and East York.

TREB district E02, the area defining The Beach and Upper Beach, posted a whopping 116% sales to active listing ratio, its highest ratio since July 2009. The number of active listings in E02, 91 homes, is the lowest posted for any April in the past 15 years.

East Toronto as a whole is a seller’s market, where a tight housing supply has given sellers the upper hand. Note however that supply and demand is already descending from its peak in March in Riverdale and East York. The condo market in downtown Toronto west of Yonge has slipped back into a buyer’s market.

In the seasonal real estate cycle, March, April and May are generally very active months, and 2011 was no exception. We can expect the market to quiet down as we head into the summer.

Percentage of Sales to Active in east Toronto for April 2011

The median sold price in The Beach and Upper Beaches increased slightly from $549,500 in March to $552,500. Compared to last year, these neighbourhoods posted a 2% bump in median selling price. Median prices in the GTA overall increased by 9% between the same months.

On average, a home in The Beach and Upper Beaches took just 12 days to sell. This is on par with performance in April 2010. On average in Toronto overall, a home took 22 days to sell.

The Beach and Upper Beach Median Sold Prices April 2008-2011

Number of Sold Properties in The Beach, Upper Beach – April 2008-2011

In general, less homes were sold so far in 2011 than in the first four months of 2010. There were 106 properties that sold this month in The Beach and Upper Beaches – that’s 8% less than March 2010, but 25% more than March 2009. During the same time periods, the Greater Toronto Area overall recorded a 17% sales decline between April 2011 and April 2010, and a 14% increase from April 2009.

Compared with March 2011, The Beach and the GTA’s number of sold properties increased 13% and decreased 2% respectively.

Data provided by the Toronto Real Estate Board with analyses performed by O’Neill Real Estate Limited.

Related posts:

1. March 2011 – Home sales spring upwards in The Toronto Beaches
2. January 2011: Home sales down, prices up in The Toronto Beach
3. December 2010: Housing prices stay steady in The Beach during holidays
4. February 2011 – It’s a seller’s market again in the Toronto Beaches
5. October 2010: A respectable real estate harvest