New condos narrowly outsell single-family homes in February as Toronto high-rise market heats up

New condo sales across the Toronto region shot up in February after a sluggish period in the winter.

According to data published today by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), there were 1,623 new condos sold across the region last month, up from 665 sales in January and 857 in December.

The region’s new single-family home segment, which had outsold condos for three straight months, took a backseat in February with 1,617 sales recorded for the month.

Both market segments sold a combined total of 3,240 units, nine percent above the 10-year average for February but 34 percent below the total achieved in the same month last year.

“We need to be careful when comparing February of this year to the exceptionally busy month of February 2020, just before the pandemic hit,” said BILD President Dave Wilkes, in a media release.

“We are talking about completely different sets of circumstances. The fact is that February 2021 was a solid month when compared with the 10-year average,” he continued.

To Wilkes’ point, the new home market was on a tear in February 2020 before hitting a wall a month later when the pandemic began wreaking havoc across the country. There were 4,665 new home sales that month, a 211 percent annual increase and the highest number of sales recorded in any February since 2002.

With February’s total, new condo sales appear to be on a path to consistently achieving more typical levels, said Altus Group, BILD’s data partner in tracking the region’s new home market, in the media release.

“With additional new [condo] supply on the horizon, the spring market will likely yield its usual increase in activity; however, economic challenges related to the pandemic remain and will continue to provide some obstacles in the near term,” said Altus Group Analytics Manager Ryan Wyse.

On the pricing front, the benchmark price of a new condo in the Toronto region rose 8.4 percent annually to $1,042,064. The new single-family home segment recorded a 25.1 percent increase to its benchmark price, which jumped to $1,373,473 in February.