Why scarce GTA home listings are further driving up prices – Toronto Star

Most days there isn’t much new to see online even though their search now encompasses a huge swath of the GTA, including Mississauga, Milton, Oakville, Burlington and Hamilton.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board reported 3,232 active listings in December, a 60 per cent tumble from the 7,892 the same month a year earlier.

While the city of Toronto had more than a month’s inventory of homes in December, Milton and Oshawa had half a month’s supply.

December and January are traditionally a listings dead zone and realtors promise there will be more listings as spring approaches.

Veilleux, 28, feels like she and her partner don’t stand a chance.

“We really did not want to waive the finance clause because the news has been saying how exuberant the market’s been.

The real estate board’s chief market analyst, Jason Mercer, says months of inventory is based on how many homes are left standing on the market at the end of the month and how long it would take for those homes to be sold based on the average number of sales in the previous 12 months.

Based on that measure, most GTA municipalities were down in December compared to the same month last year and many dropped significantly from the last pre-pandemic December in 2019.

“People are looking for a detached home but at a price point more affordable than the city of Toronto or York Region.

Re/Max Realtron agent Dajan Kumarasamy said Ajax is currently feeling the biggest crunch in Durham Region.

“I have a lot of people who need to move because they either sold their house or they’re looking to sell their home and now they’re getting scared by the market,” he said.

12 report, Scotiabank noted that Canada has the lowest housing stock of any G7 country with Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta having the fewest homes per capita in the country.

“Canada has to find a way to attract more people to places like Saskatchewan,” said Alexander.

“In the third quarter we saw a real increase in immigration into Ontario and that’s what you’re going to continue to see as we move through 2022 and 2023.

“The top of line policy moves are still looking at foreign buyers or talking about taxing investors,” said Mercer.

While there were about 3,200 new listings in December last year, there were nearly 21,000 in April.

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