As the calendar flips for the last time this year and we are three weeks shy of Christmas, it feels like we are all gearing up for the holiday festivities. The offices are a little slower, listings are dropping off and the buyers are taking a break. The November stats were released from The Toronto Real Estate Board and for the City of Toronto the average price was up 2 percent to $802,220 from November 2016. We saw a sizable number of new listings (14,349) for the entire GTA, up by 37 percent compared to November 2016. This boost to home ownership could be because of the upcoming changes to mortgage guidelines, which come into effect in January. On a year-to-year basis, the average selling price was up by 13.4 percent compared to same period last year. All the negative headlines are for the entire GTA, but conditions continue to be stronger for the City of Toronto.

The freehold sector in the central and east neighbourhoods saw a drop in new listings last week by 14 percent, while the west end remained on par as the week before. As December approached we also saw a drop in sales by 25 percent for all freehold but the bidding wars were still happening with 27 per cent selling over the asking price.

The condo market in the City of Toronto is still sizzling with the average price now at $555,965. Last week we saw a decline of 12 per cent in new listings for all neighbourhoods and a small decline in sales by 6 percent but the bidding wars were still strong with 32 per cent selling over the asking price. The condo market continues to lead the way in terms of price growth in the GTA.