As much as realtors and other industry experts are adamant that Canada's housing market is on the road to recovery, the return has been extremely sluggish, especially for certain cities and housing types.

High mortgage rates and the inflated cost of living have fueled a dramatic lull of very little interest in Toronto's usually red-hot market where bidding wars and houses selling for way over asking are typical.

While the volume of home sales month-over-month does show that more prospective homebuyers are returning to the market, when compared to this time last year, the numbers are pretty dismal. 

Particularly bad are the latest figures for new condo sales in and around the city, which were just released in a new housing report from the Building Indusry and Land Development Association (BILD).

The group leads with the assertion that the new home market in the GTA finally started returning to normal in April, which is definitely the case for single-family homes, based on their stats.

The number of new detached, semi-detached and townhouses that sold in the region last month was up a staggering 81 per cent compared to April 2022, with a total of 2,391 — a number that is still 16 per cent below the 10-year average, mind you.

Buyer interest in new condos, though, is falling way short: 57 per cent fewer condos, stacked townhouse units and lofts sold in the GTA compared to April last year, with sales dropping 39 per cent below the 10-year average.

Overall, pulled down by condo sales, there was an inventory of 14,928 new homes left for sale by the end of April — 91 per cent of them condos — which is higher than the month prior.

Benchmark prices also declined month-over-month, with single-family homes hitting an average of $1,768,456 (only 1.1 per cent lower than April of 2022), and condos likewise decreasing month-over-month to $1,102,904 (7.3 per cent lower than the average price for this type of home April 2022).

"The fundamentals had pointed to a rebound in April and that strength is expected to continue through the spring market," BILD notes, encouraging governments to add more housing supply to keep prices on the lower end of ridiculous, which, let's face it, they always will be in this city.

If rate cuts rather than further rate hikes are on the horizon (and that's an IF) cautiously optimistic forecasts expect home sales and prices across Canada to continue bouncing back in 2023 after this significant market correction.

Becky Robertson(BlogTO, May 26,2023)