Home sales down 37% by mid July

According to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) / Greater Toronto Realtors only 2,790 sales were made during the first two weeks of July 2010. For the Toronto real estate market that represents a 37% drop compared to the same time frame in July 2009. New listings also were down 8%.

This is to be a little expected however. Last year saw a bumper crop of home sales.

“Last summer existing home sales spiked well above the expected long-term trend. Sales were also unseasonably high during the first four months of this year,” says TREB President Bill Johnston. “Transactions will be down year over - year in the second half of 2010 as the level of sales balances out.”

“With year-to-date sales up by more than 18 per cent compared to last year, we continue to look forward to one of the best years on record under the current TREB trading area,” says Bill.

The average price for July mid-month transactions was $427,931 – up 8% from the same time period in 2009.

Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis, believes that there will plenty of sales to maintain the sustainability of price growth.

But what if he's wrong and prices start to plummet?