Toronto Real Estate witnesses Worst December Since 2012

The number of homes sold in Toronto and the surrounding area fell in 2018, along with the number of new listings hitting the market, as homebuyers and sellers grappled with a new reality of higher interest rates and stricter mortgage rules. The Toronto Real Estate Board says there were 77,426 residential transactions recorded through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system last year, down 16.1 per cent from 92,263 sales in 2017. The board says the total number of new listings was also lower, pulling back 12.7 per cent to 155,823 in 2018. Meanwhile, the average selling price for all property types in the Greater Toronto Area fell by 4.3 per cent to $787,300. The latest monthly data, for December, showed sales down 22.5 per cent from the same time a year earlier. It was the worst December for home sales since 2012, according to a client note from Bank of Montreal.