URBANATION SAYS “FOURTH QUARTER FLURRY” DRIVES 2010 TORONTO CONDO MARKET TO NEAR-RECORD SALES

Q4 2010’s 6,280 new Toronto CMA unit sales were the 4th highest quarterly total
on record: with aid of robust resale activity, 2010 market powers to strong finish
FINAL – TORONTO – January 31, 2011…Urbanation Inc., the leading source of information
and analysis on the Toronto condominium market since 1981, today released its Q4-2010 market
overview.
For the second consecutive year, the Toronto CMA new-condominium market finished with a
bang. A flurry of sales activity in Q4-2010 resulted in 6,280 new condominium units sold in the
quarter. This represents an impressive rebound from the 3,805 new unit sales in the preceding
Q3-2010.
Said Urbanation Executive Vice President and Editor Ben Myers, “The Q4-2010 new unit sales
were much higher than expected, spurred by tremendous results at a number of new project
openings in the City of Toronto. In the end, 2010’s total annual new and resale condominium
sales of 37,041 units were just three per cent shy of the historic 2007 record of 38,306 units
sold.”
Compared to 2009, 2010’s sales represent an increase of 20 per cent over 2009’s 30,939 new and
resale condominium units sold. 2010 sales soared 27 per cent over 2008’s sales of 27,187 new
and resale volume.
Myers added, “Even more impressive than the sales results were the number of construction
starts, a Toronto CMA record of 18,221 high-rise condominiums started in 2010, more than
twice as many as 2009. There are now 34,548 units under construction in the CMA in 132
projects”.
The key to Q4-2010’s strength, and the overall 2010 annual sales success, seems to have been a
combination of developers continuing to restrain pricing at new project launches to appeal both
to the general market, and to investors looking to acquire suites as future rental properties.
A 2010 Urbanation survey of condominium industry professionals indicates that their major
concern with regard to 2011 sales levels will be affordability. In the Toronto CMA overall, the
unsold unit index price for new projects (the average asking price of available product per square
foot), rose eight per cent annually from $493 to $530 psf in Q4-2010. The unsold index price in
the former City of Toronto was $646 psf in Q4-2010 and $723 psf in the Downtown Core.
Pricing in the resale market has flattened in recent quarters, but has risen six per cent annually
from $352 psf in Q4-2009 to $374 psf in the fourth quarter of 2010. Resale index pricing in the
former City was $487 psf in Q4-2010 and $518 psf in the Downtown Core. There were 3,538
condominium apartment resale transactions in the fourth quarter in the CMA, with the average
unit selling for $339,000.
“Urbanation expects 15,000 to 17,000 new units to launch in 2011, with approximately 16,000
sales, representing a slight drop-off following the ‘boom’ conditions in 2010” said Myers,
“Moderate growth is expected in the resale condominium market, and Urbanation is forecasting
17,000 resales in 2011.”
ABOUT URBANATION
Urbanation is Canada's leading condominium market research company. Since 1981, Urbanation
has analyzed the Toronto condominium market, publishing the “industry bible” – Urbanation’s
Condominium Market Survey. This quarterly Report tracks new, resale and future condominium
projects. Urbanation also provides the development community with essential consulting
services, which include site and topic specific market studies and surveys.