As we moved through March, supply conditions really depended on the type of property you’re looking at. Inventory did what it typically does this time of year and increased month over month. But when you zoom out and compare it to longer-term trends, we’re seeing a pretty clear split in the market. Row and apartment-style homes are sitting with inventory levels well above the 10-year average, while detached homes remain well below it. That’s not overly surprising given we saw a pullback in detached housing starts last year, while apartment construction hit record highs.
On the sales side, there were 1,881 transactions in March. That’s an improvement from February, but still about 13 percent lower than where we were at this time last year and below what we’d typically expect for March.
A big part of that slowdown is coming from the apartment sector. Buyers have more choice right now, and with migration easing off a bit, demand is being spread across more available inventory. Detached homes are also seeing some slowdown compared to long-term trends, but in many cases that comes down to limited supply in certain areas of the city.
From a high-level perspective, the market looks fairly balanced right now. Sales, new listings, inventory, and prices all ticked up as we head into the spring market. But when you break it down, it’s really two different stories. Detached homes are still operating in tighter conditions, while the apartment market is leaning more in favour of buyers. That dynamic is pushing detached prices up, while putting some downward pressure on condo prices.
The overall benchmark price in the city came in at $565,600. That’s up just under one percent from February, but still down more than four percent compared to last year. Looking at the first quarter as a whole, prices for lower-density homes have been relatively stable, while apartment-style condos continue to soften, dropping another three percent compared to the end of last year.