Monday, May 9, 2011

URBANATION PROJECTS BUOYANT FIRST QUARTER IS PRELUDE TO STRONGER SECOND QUARTER IN CONDO SALES


NEWS RELEASE

CONTACT:     Vicki Griffiths
                        Vicbar Marketing Limited
                        416-510-0073

TORONTO – May 9, 2011:  Urbanation Inc., the leading source of information and analysis on the Toronto condominium market since 1981, today released its Q1-2011 market overview.

The Toronto CMA new condominium market kicked off 2011with a bang, with 5,201 sales. That was just 214 sales shy of the record first quarter result from 2010. The resale market also showed a strong start in Q1, with 3,952 units sold, just 338 fewer than last year’s first quarter record of 4,290.

“These near record sales in the first quarter of 2011 mark a prelude to an even more vibrant second quarter,” says Ben Myers, Urbanation Executive Vice President and Editor. 

The most noteworthy result in the market was the 7,550 construction starts in the first quarter, while there are now a record number of suites under construction in the Toronto CMA at 37,706.  At the end of Q1-2011, over half of the 284 new condominium apartment projects and 73,643 units were under construction.  Just 17 percent of the new condominium suites in the CMA were unsold (12,272 units) matching the record low set in the first quarters of 2010 and 1986.

“This momentum will continue into the second quarter, when an estimated 45 new condominium projects, representing 9,500 units, will launch,” says Myers. “That’s a healthy increase over the just 23 new condominium towers launched in the second quarter of 2010.”

Meanwhile, the 17 new projects that opened in Q1 sold 63 percent of their 3,768 total units. That number far surpasses the average absorption rate for new projects in their opening quarters between 2006 and 2010 (49 percent).

Prices also climbed. The average price per square foot of unsold product in the Toronto CMA new condominium market in the first quarter increased 3 percent from Q4-2010, and 7 percent annually, to $543 psf.  Unsold index pricing was also up in the former City of Toronto to $650 psf and the Downtown Core to $739 psf.

Prices in the resale market also edged up by 2 percent over Q4-2010 to $382 psf, increasing the average resale index price in the Toronto CMA by the largest quarterly margin since the fourth quarter of 2009. Resale index pricing in the former City of Toronto was $509 psf with Downtown Core prices at $513 psf in Q1-2011.

Resale supply also declined, dropping far lower than the record 10,997 listings from one year ago to 7,490 resale listings in Q1-2011.

“The major infusion of new units in the second quarter of this year should moderate pricing increases, but Urbanation expects near record quarterly sales in Q2-2011” Myers added, “and an elevated level of project registrations, will also keep resale pricing increases temperate”.


ABOUT URBANATION

Urbanation is Canada’s leading condominium market research company. Since 1981, Urbanation has analyzed the Toronto condominium market, publishing the “industry bible” – Urbanation’s Condominium Market Survey. This quarterly report tracks new, resale and future condominium projects. Urbanation also provides the development community with essential consulting services, which include site and topic specific market studies and surveys.

urbanationinc.blogspot.com

1 comment:

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