Detached home prices rose over 20% in every Toronto suburb in January

Ever since the housing market rally began in 2020’s second half, the number of Toronto region communities recording 20 percent-plus annual price gains in their detached home markets has been climbing each month.

Of the 30 suburban cities and towns tracked by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), 20 experienced detached home price increases of over 20 percent in December. That number shot up again to 30 cities and towns in January, meaning every single suburban community in the Toronto region — from large cities like Brampton to small towns like Caledon — recorded at least a 20 percent increase in detached home prices last month.

It’s another sign that buyers’ huge appetite for detached homes has yet to be satisfied. The supply that’s available on the market continues to be outmatched by demand and this misalignment is driving prices up significantly across the entire region.

The average home pricing data for January was released earlier this week by TRREB.

Aurora and King posted the highest detached home price increases in the region last month, with the former rising nearly 58 percent to an average price of $1,718,745, while the latter posted a 54.4 percent gain to $2,290,966. Detached homes in King were, on average, the most expensive in the Toronto region in January, even outperforming the City of Toronto’s central region which is tracked separately by TRREB.

Adjala-Tosorontio in Simcoe County and Pickering and Ajax in Durham Region rounded out the top five, each posting detached home price gains in the low 40 percent range.

Only nine of the suburban cities and towns tracked in TRREB’s January report had average sale prices below $1 million for their detached home markets. That’s down from 18 in January 2020.

“The GTA real estate market surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts in 2020 — a trend that accelerated in January 2021,” wrote Diana Petramala and Daniel Bailey, researchers with Ryerson University’s Centre for Urban Research.

“Mortgage interest rates hit rock bottom in January, which likely explains the eye-popping performance across the GTA,” they added.