Lack of supply to blame for bloated prices—realtor

Boom season for realtors and sellers continues even as prices are creeping ever upward with no signs of stopping any time soon

While Toronto has stood near the top of several “most dynamic Canadian market” lists for years now, the city is gradually running out of land for properties, and a realtor pointed at this fact as the main reason for swollen prices.
 
Thomas Bosley, third-generation president and broker of record of Bosley Real Estate Ltd., said that the growing scarcity of single-family homes in Toronto is forcing families to stay put in semi-detached properties—in turn lowering supply and generating bidding frenzies that would continue to severely inflate prices for the foreseeable future.
 
Figures from the Toronto Real Estate Board showed that the benchmark price for all types of homes grew by 14.9 per cent in February compared to the same month last year. This represented an average sale price of $685,278, with the average price of detached homes sitting at $1,211,459.
 
Despite these developments, however, Bolsey noted that the costs have so far not deterred buyers, as shown by the 101,299 homes sold in Toronto last year.
 
“Buying intentions are strong for this year as households continue to see home ownership as an affordable long-term investment,” TREB president Mark McLean said last month, as quoted by the Toronto Star.
 
As for concerns on market stability, Bolsey assured market players that an influx of potential consumers from the suburbs to the metropolitan area, along with sustained interest from both domestic and foreign investors, would keep Toronto’s housing sector afloat in the long term.