House prices shot up more than 40% in these three GTA cities

The GTA real estate market has reached historic highs over the past year, with house prices in outer-lying cities seeing unprecedented surges in interest.

As homebuyers searched for larger spaces in more suburban areas of the GTA during the pandemic, it drove demand and, consequently, home prices through the roof.

A new report from RE/MAX found that detached homes in three unexpected GTA cities saw unbelievable growth between 2020 and 2021, rising over 40% in value.

Uxbridge experienced the largest growth, with detached home prices there increasing a whopping 46.4% to a new high of $1,365,983. It was closely followed by Scugog — directly to the east of Uxbridge — where prices jumped 43.9% to a new high of $986,878.

King, located just north of Vaughan, saw house prices rise from an average of $1,555,302 to $2,179,739 — a change of 40.2%.

Other outer-lying GTA cities like Brock, Pickering, Clarington, Oshawa, Caledon, East Gwillimbury, Whitby, Banbury-Don Mills, and Milton all saw substantial increases in detached home prices, each rising 34-40%.

This upswing in prices came alongside an upswing in the number of sales, the report says.

“Halfway into 2021 and the Greater Toronto housing market continues to fire on all cylinders,” said Christopher Alexander, senior vice president of RE/MAX Canada. “Overall home sales topped 70,000 between January and June, the strongest first half in the history of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, while values smashed through record levels set in previous years.”

With interest rates falling to a historic low during the pandemic, aspiring homebuyers raced to these once-more-affordable communities and pushed up the prices. In 2019, 28 GTA communities had average detached home prices under $1,000,000. In 2020, that number fell to 18. This year, there are only six.

“More transit options and hybrid work schedules have made relocation to the city’s outlying areas even more attractive,” said Alexander. “First-time buyers are feeling the squeeze but are still determined to become homeowners, with many happily travelling further afield to make it happen while working from home. The beneficiaries of the trend have been suburban communities in Durham, Peel, Dufferin County and the most northern part of York Region.”

And with low inventory levels not changing anytime soon, the trend of rapidly rising prices likely won’t either.

“Without a serious influx of new listings to ease the upward pressure on pricing in the coming months, the market will likely continue on this upward trajectory,” Alexander said.