Stats for April 2021’s GTA Home Sales Show Post-Pandemic Recovery but Aren’t as Strong as March 2021’s Stats

Since the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) released its market data for April’s GTA home sales, many have faced confusion over what this data really means. The stats reveal huge, impressive-sounding numbers in a year-over-year comparison between April 2020 and April 2021. But we need to remind ourselves of the context surrounding this growth and consider this month’s data an anomaly. 

The only people who were buying and selling property last April were those who were already in the home-moving process and those who had to relocate, despite the pandemic. Therefore, year-over-year stats can only show us how the housing market is recovering post-pandemic. And the good news is that this recovery is evident.

Meanwhile, it’s currently more helpful to focus on month-over-month comparisons when looking at housing-market data. And, despite the boom in activity post-pandemic, sales have declined since March 2021.

Here, we’ll look at April 2021’s stats and the important conclusions we can draw from these.

GTA Home Sales: TRREB’s April 2021 Statistics

Below, you’ll find the main conclusions from TRREB’s April 2021 Market Watch report.

• GTA realtors closed 13,663 home sales through TRREB’s MLS® System this April – more than quadruple the number of sales closed in April 2020. However, at this point, COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on housing markets. Flipping this to a month-over-month comparison, April home sales saw a 12.7% decrease compared to March. Meanwhile, April 2021 GTA home sales are up by 36.6% compared to the April 2010–2019 ten-year sales average of 10,000.
• New home listings have followed a similar pattern over recent weeks. April saw more than triple the number of April 2020 listings but 8.4% fewer than March 2021 listings. However, April 2021 listings are up by 18.3% compared to the ten-year new listings average.
• The April MLS® Home Price Index Composite benchmark is up 17.8% compared to last year. The Composite benchmark has also increased on a monthly basis, though the pace of monthly growth has decelerated. April’s average selling price of $1,090,992 may have climbed by 33% versus April 2020’s average selling price, but this remains in line with March 2021’s average. And the average selling price has typically risen between March and April in previous years.

Notes From TRREB’s President and Chief Market Analyst on GTA Home Sales

“While sales remained very strong last month, many REALTORS® noted a marked slowing in both the number of transactions and the number of new listings,” said TRREB President Lisa Patel. “It makes sense that we had a pullback in market activity compared to March. We’ve experienced a torrid pace of home sales since the summer of 2020 while seeing little in the way of population growth. We may be starting to exhaust the pool of potential buyers within the existing GTA population. Over the long term, sustained growth in sales requires sustained growth in population.” 

“Despite a modest slowing in market activity in April compared to March, selling prices for all major home types remained very high,” added TRREB Chief Market Analyst Jason Mercer. “Low borrowing costs during COVID-19 clearly had an impact on the demand for and price of ownership housing. While the pace of price growth could moderate in the coming months, home prices will likely continue on the upward trend. Renewed population growth over the next year coupled with a persistent lack of new inventory will underpin home price appreciation.” 

April’s Region-Specific GTA Home Sales

In April alone, realtors closed:

• 1,403 home sales in the Halton Region.
• 2,733 in the Peel Region.
• 2,454 in the York Region. 
• 1,771 in the Durham Region.
• 4,694 in the City of Toronto
• 83 in Dufferin County.
• 525 in Simcoe County.

Taking a closer look at April’s home sales in Toronto alone, realtors closed 1,231 residential property sales in Toronto West, 2,250 in Toronto Central, and 1,213 in Toronto East. 

We’ve also broken these stats down further to examine how GTA detached home sales have changed month-over-month between March 2021 and April 2021 in the communities Storey Collective serves. 

Toronto

• Home sales were down 8.8%. 
• New listings remained relatively flat at 0.5%. 
• Average sale price was down 2.9%.
• The sales to new listings ratio (SNLR) fell by 5.9% to 57.8%. A SNLR of 55%+ indicates a seller’s market, which means there are more buyers than properties for sale. 

Halton Hills

• Home sales fell by 13%. 
• New listings dropped by over 7.8%. 
• Average sale price was down 5.5%. 
• The sales to new listings ratio (SNLR) fell by 4.4% to 74.7%, resulting in a seller’s market. 

Oakville

• Home sales fell by 22%. 
• New listings dropped by 12.8%. 
• Average sale price remained about the same, up 1.1%. 
• The sales to new listings ratio (SNLR) fell by 7.9% to 67.6%, resulting in a seller’s market. 

Milton

• Home sales were down 11%. 
• New listings droppedby 7.5%. 
• Average sale price climbed by 2.2%. 
• The sales to new listings ratio (SNLR) grew by 21.9% to 73%, resulting in a seller’s market. 

Burlington

• Home sales were down 17%. 
• New listings dropped by 28.5%. 
• Average sale price was down 2.2%. 
• The sales to new listings ratio (SNLR) grew by 11% to 80%, resulting in a seller’s market. 

Mississauga

• Home sales fell by 11%. 
• New listings were down 7.2%. 
• Average sale price fell by 4.1%. 
• The sales to new listings ratio (SNLR) fell 3% to 66.8%, resulting in a seller’s market. 

You can also check out our community pages for Toronto, Georgetown (Halton Hills), Oakville, Milton, Burlington, and Mississauga to catch up on our year-over-year and month-over-month market summaries.

How Storey Collective Can Help

Our experts examine GTA home sales each month, so we always have an up-to-date understanding of housing-market trends in local areas. 

If you’d like to close the best possible deal when selling or buying property in the GTA, you can get in touch with Storey Collective for a free phone consultation.