Toronto home sales expected to slip, but average prices forecast to climb

TORONTO – The Toronto Real Estate Board expects fewer home sales this year compared with 2017, but the average selling price to creep higher.

The board is forecasting total sales between 85,000 and 95,000 in 2018.

It says the midpoint of the range suggests total annual sales slightly lower than 2017 when there were 92,394 sales reported through the board’s MLS system.

Meanwhile, the forecast range for the average selling price in 2018 is between $800,000 and $850,000 with the midpoint suggesting a slight increase in the average selling price this year compared with $822,681 in 2017.

Toronto home sales started last year on a hot streak, but slowed after the Ontario government introduced several measures to cool the market.

The real estate board says it expects year-over-year declines in transactions will be more pronounced in the first four months of this year, but sales are expected to be up compared with last year through the late spring and summer.