Greater Toronto home sales increased in June, prices expected to rise in months ahead: real estate board

Greater Toronto home sales increased in June, prices expected to rise in months ahead: real estate board

More transactions, buyer competition may increase home prices in the second half of the year: board president

The Greater Toronto Area continued to see higher home sales last month compared with a year ago even as new listings slowed.

With 6,770 homes in the region changing hands in June, activity was up 9.4 per cent year-over-year, while sales also rose 1.4 per cent from May on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says the average selling price decreased 3.9 per cent year-over-year to $1,058,658, and the composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, was down 5.4 per cent.

TRREB president Daniel Steinfeld says there was a "marked improvement" for activity in the second quarter after a slow start to the year, and the board expects both accelerating transactions and more competition between buyers in the second half, which could push prices higher.

There were 17,282 new listings on the market in June, down 12.9 per cent from last year.

Inventory fell 13.5 per cent as there were 27,329 total active listings in the GTA.

Sammy Hudes is a business reporter with The Canadian Press