Houses Are Getting Even More Expensive in Mississauga
Published September 20, 2016 at 2:32 pm
If you were hoping that the Mississauga housing market would start to cool off, your wish has not yet come true.
According to August statistics provided by the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), homes are getting more expensive in the city
Larry Cerqua, president of TREB, recently announced that GTA realtors are reporting a record 9,813 sales through TREB’s MLS system in August. This year, sales are up 23.5 per cent from August 2015, but TREB notes that the lion’s share of sales are reported on working days and that last month had two additional ones, meaning the annual percentage change in sales is actually closer to 13 per cent.
“The conditions underlying strong demand for ownership housing remained in place, including a relatively strong regional economy, growth in average earnings and low borrowing costs. Unfortunately, we did not see any relief on the listings front, with the number of new listings down compared to last year. This situation continued to underpin very strong home price growth, irrespective of home type or area,” said Cerqua.
Basically, a lack of inventory in the housing market is driving up prices and, in many cases, prompting bidding wars that squeeze lower-income buyers from the market.
Here’s a look at the numbers:
In August 2016, the average home price in the GTA was $710,410. Last year, it was $603,534; meaning prices are up 17.7 per cent year over year. Right now, houses are sitting on the market for a scant 18 days, down 21.7 per cent from last year.
As for Mississauga specifically, detached homes are selling for a whopping $905,610 (in July, they were going for $888,565). Semi-detached homes in the city are selling for $594,033 (compared to $588,947 last month), towns are going for $536,256 (vs. $521,584 in July) and condos are typically priced around $349,194 (a little down from July, actually).
Mississauga is still better off than Toronto, where detached homes are selling for about $1,206,637, semis for $774,700, towns for $614,638 and condos for $446,612.
With interest rates and inventory staying low into September, it’s probably safe to say that price increases will continue (or at least sustain themselves) for the foreseeable future.
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