Toronto’s new condo market breaks sales launch record for July

The summer months are typically a quieter time for Toronto’s new condo market, with project launches concentrated in the spring and fall months.

But when there’s no spring launch season to speak of thanks to a global pandemic, it turns out that you get a very busy July for new projects and units being brought to market.

Nine projects launched sales across the Toronto region, adding 2,539 condo units to the new home market, according to real estate data tracker Altus Group. The number of units launched represents the highest volume observed in the month of July since Altus Group began tracking the data in 2000. The project launch total is a near-record breaking result.

The data firm’s Ryan Wyse wrote in a blog post that the nine condo projects are reporting strong sales as buyers jump back into the market, encouraged by the easing of pandemic-related restrictions.

Although the activity seen in July was promising, Wyse said that year-to-date figures for project launches and condo units added to the market remain down significantly for 2020 compared to a year ago. Strength in July was not quite a perfect substitute for a busy spring market.

“However, with one-third of new July project launches occurring in the final days of the month, August is also expected to experience stronger than usual sales, resulting in a summer sales surge,” wrote Wyse.

A busy fall is also in the cards, according to Wyse, as builders are expected to continue to launch projects through the season to satisfy pent-up demand from homebuyers.