October 2022 Market Review

Following the 4.3% decline in year-over-year average sale price that we saw in September, October saw a slightly bigger decline, with the average sale price dipping 5.7% in October.

There were 4,961 sales in October 2022, down from 9743 in October 2021. That’s similar to the numbers we saw in September: 5,038 sales, down from 9010. While sales are down by almost half, new listings also declined, keeping the market fairly flat through the first two months of the ‘fall market’.

Interestingly, the condo market showed some real resilience. After posting a 3.4% increase in average sale price in September, the 416 market was flat in October: 0.0% change! With the 905 added in, the average sale price actually increased year-over-year by 1.8%. TRREB reports that this is probably due to a bigger decline in new/available listings in the condo segment. As always, supply and demand remain big (probably the biggest) factors.

While it’s fair to say that rising interest rates have had an effect on the Toronto real estate market, I believe that skyrocketing inflation is an under-reported factor – especially since it’s so much bigger than the interest rate increases. That said, both factors are probably relatively short-term challenges. In the meantime, Toronto faces a years-long housing supply issue, and we are likely about to see a big increase in immigration (post-Covid, I mean). Plus, it remains to be seen just how many people who sold their homes and left Toronto early-to-mid pandemic will find themselves back in the Big Smoke competing for housing with everyone else…. Considering all that, I think we’ll see a recovery in prices sooner rather than later.

On that note, I just got off the phone with a colleague to had to cut short his week off work to head home and take care of some business – not always a bad thing for a Realtor to have to do! 😉 I’ve got a few irons in the fire, too, but the fact remains that we are nearing the end of the fall market. Still, while December-January tend to be slower months, the fact that we’ve had a relatively slow fall means that the market might chug along all winter – who knows?! As always, we’ll have to wait and see. 😉