With the number of home sales steadily rising from month to month, prices creeping up and the average time spent on the market decreasing, it’s not surprising that GTA residents are feeling more confident about the local real estate market.
According to the Ontario Home Ownership Index – a semi-annual province-wide research study commissioned by the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) – 66 percent of GTA residents describe the current residential real estate market in their city or town as ‘favourable’, up five percentage points from last year.
The Index measures consumer confidence in the economy and real estate markets both provincially and locally. According to Patricia Verge, president of OREA, one of the interesting finds from the survey was the significant increase in positive sentiment among GTA residents.
“As far as real estate markets go, the gap in sentiment appears to be closing between residents in the 416 and 905. We know that each of these areas is unique, but it is encouraging to see that residents in both are growing more positive about their local real estate markets.”
Overall, confidence in local real estate markets is higher among 905 area residents, but 416 residents showed greater improvements in sentiment. For example, seven out of ten 905 residents say the real estate market in their city/town is favourable (up four percentage points from last year); six out of ten Toronto residents (61 percent) said the same, a seven percentage point increase from last year.
For more results from the Ontario Home Ownership Index, visit www.orea.com