National Post
March 8, 2008

This February was the snowiest on record for Toronto. (The previous record dump for a February in Toronto was 66.6 centimetres in 1950. This past month easily topped that.) But that hasn't stopped condo shoppers from donning their woollies and heading to the nearest sales centre.

According to Urbanation, the condo-industry bible, in the first two months of 2008, the Toronto condominium market has seen nine new high-rise condominium openings, compared with five during the same period last year.

"We're forecasting 19,000 sales in the new-condo market and 17,000 sales in the resale condo market for 2008," says Urbanation editor Jane Renwick.

The Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) for 2007 boasted record-breaking results: annual unit sales increased by 40% (22,654 new-unit sales in 2007 versus 16,114 in 2006 and 16,224 in 2005); additionally, 104 new condo projects opened in 2007 versus 84 opened in 2005, the previous record.

Last year, Toronto condo prices rose 11.3% in the new-sale market and 15.1% in the re-sale market, over 2006 prices.

The double-digit price increase in the new-build market was partly driven by growth in Toronto's luxury and super-luxury segment -- defined as projects that sell at more than $600 per square foot -- which hit 3,784 new units in 2007 at an average of $844 per sq. ft.

Non-luxury units in the new-build market, by contrast, in the CMA averaged $360 per sq. ft., once the luxury units were factored out.

Price increases in the resale market were even more substantial, rising 15.1%, from $278 per sq. ft. in 2006 to $320 per sq. ft. in 2007.