“The strong rebound in the existing home market was one of the initial drivers of economic recovery,” said TREB President Tom Lebour. “While we don’t expect to see the same rates growth moving forward, GTA households will remain confident in ownership housing as a quality long-term investment, especially as economic recovery expands across all industries.”

The annual rate of growth for new listings continued to accelerate in March. The number of new listings grew by 42 per cent compared to March of 2008.

“The average home price in the GTA will continue to grow this year, but the pace will slow as we move through the spring,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “As growth in new listings starts to outstrip growth in sales, buyers will experience more choice, resulting in more sustainable single digit rates of average price growth.”

Median Price
In March, the median price was $370,000, from the $317,500 recorded during March of 2009.

The chart above demonstrates Toronto sale prices and who’s buying.  Indicating that despite rising prices 59% of buyers are still in the under $400,000 range. The bulk of these will be first time buyers purchasing condos or lofts in the city.

17% are between $400-$500k and the balance of 24% make up the rest of the buyers in the city from $500k to approximately $10 million $.  That gives you a good idea of who our demograhic is in this city.

As interest rates rise a whole group of buyers will be knocked out of the market, this will cause some stalling in the market and could cause a small price drop, allowing more buyers to enter the market.  This benefits all the move up buyers.

Due to a stronger currency, Canadians have been able to more easily afford luxury imports, vacations, or properties abroad – the National Hockey League has even benefited. The strong Loonie helped spur the highest operating profits for several Canadian NHL teams in more than a decade. One team’s president said, “There are always two absolutes: Winning is good, and it’s always better when the Canadian dollar is stronger.”

The Bank of Canada has not indicated any intention to discontinue its conditional commitment to hold key interest rates steady until the end of the second quarter of 2010. However, there is concern that the low interest rates could potentially spur financial bubbles.

Canada, like most other countries emerging from a recession, is seeing several positive signs, but should expect recovery to come in small steps. This is especially true as Canada depends on strong demand from other countries to import its goods.