Price growth in Canada’s largest housing market accelerated last month at the fastest pace since 2017 as sales rose and the inventory of homes available for purchase fell sharply. 

There were 7,090 residential property sales across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in November, representing a 14.2 per cent increase from a year earlier. Activity increased across all home types, with detached property sales rising at the fastest pace with a 23.8 per cent surge year-over-year.

Homebuyers faced a deterioration in supply, as active listings sank 27.2 per cent year-over-year. 

Overall, the average selling price of all homes across the GTA rose 7.1 per cent year-over-year to $843,637 in November. That was the fastest annual price growth since May 2017, when Toronto’s average selling price jumped 14.6 per cent.

“Strong population growth in the GTA coupled with declining negotiated mortgage rates resulted in sales accounting for a greater share of listings in November and throughout the second half of 2019,” said TREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer in a release.  

“Increased competition between buyers has resulted in an acceleration in price growth. Expect the rate of price growth to increase further if we see no relief on the listings supply front.”