GTA new home market experiences "March madness"

GREATER TORONTO, April 19 /CNW/ - Whether they were trying to beat the HST, the new federal mortgage insurance rules, rising mortgage rates or the general rush, new home buyers snapped up 4,444 new homes and condos across the GTA in March, resulting in the highest total new home sales of any month since July 2007, the Building Industry & Land Development Association (BILD) revealed today.

With comparisons to 2009 remaining exaggerated due to the dire economic circumstances of a year ago, BILD noted that total new home sales in March were up 43 per cent compared with the same month in 2008. According to RealNet Canada Inc., BILDs official, independent source of new home market information, this was the best March since 2005 for low-rise (single-detached, semi-detached and town-home) sales and the third-best month ever for high-rise sales (behind June and July 2007).

"We had been expecting these very solid results for March based on the enthusiastic response of homebuyers to the many new projects launched in March," said BILD President and CEO Stephen Dupuis, who predicted that April sales would approximate the March results. "Everybody's trying to beat something, and it looks like they are succeeding."

Dupuis cautioned regulators to resist the urge to intervene in the market, noting a number of factors that will result in more sustainable sales levels in the months to come. "With the pending implementation of the HST, rising mortgage interest rates and stiffer competition from the resale market, not to mention the federal government's new mortgage financing rules which take effect April 19, 2010 (today), new home sales have likely peaked," he stated.

"A year ago, governments at all levels wanted nothing but jobs and the current healthy new home sales levels represent just that," Dupuis concluded.

    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    March '10       Low Rise             High Rise              Total
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Region     2009  2010 % Change  2009  2010 % Change  2009  2010  %Change
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Durham      241   274    13.7%     9    10    11.1%   250   284    13.6%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Halton      254   152   -40.2%     7    81  1057.1%   261   233   -10.7%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Peel        230   524   127.8%    51   104   103.9%   281   628   123.5%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Toronto      41    58    41.5%   334 2,196   557.5%   375 2,254   501.1%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    York        305   953   212.5%    39    92   135.9%   344 1,045   203.8%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    GTA       1,071 1,961    83.1%   440 2,483   464.3% 1,511 4,444   194.1%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Jan-March 2,141 4,892   128.5%   940 5,092   441.7% 3,081 9,984   224.1%
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Source: RealNet Canada Inc.
    

With more than 1,300 members, BILD, formed through the merger of the Greater Toronto Home Builders' Association and Urban Development Institute/Ontario, is the voice of the land development, home building and professional renovation industry in the Greater Toronto Area. BILD is proudly affiliated with the Ontario and Canadian Home Builders' Associations.

For further information: Andrei Zaretski, Manager, Communications, [phone] or [phone], [email protected]; Stephen Dupuis, President, Chief Executive Officer, [phone] or [phone], [email protected]