Real estate market stays hot

Average home price in York approaches $600K

With a little help from an extra day to wheel and deal, housing sales last month were up 16 per cent compared to February 2011 and the average home price in the GTA crossed the $500,000 mark.

Just more than 7,000 homes changed hands across the GTA, 1,346 of them in York Region.

Despite 11-per-cent growth in listings, tight inventory meant the average price of a house continued to climb.

York Region’s average resale price, $584,973, was well above the GTA average of $502,508, itself an 11-per-cent increase over the same month last year.

The Toronto Real Estate Board has said it expects inventory to open up and the rate of the average price increase to slow, but it will have to reconsider that assessment if the market remains tight, senior marketing analysis manager Jason Mercer said.

“While price growth remains strong, the average selling price remains affordable from a mortgage lending perspective for a household earning the average income in the GTA,” he said.

The Canadian Real Estate Association expects low interest rates to keep the national market about on par with what’s been seen over the past decade.

That said, it expects Ontario-wide sales to drop about 2 per cent compared to last year, while prices decline slightly.

Source: http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/1311390--real-estate-market-stays-hot