December capped off a record year for real estate in the Greater Toronto Area — both in sales and price. According to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, 121,712 sales were reported through its MLS® System in 2021 — up an astounding 28% from 2020 which was a hot market, and 7.7% over the previous record high set in 2016. But as demand remained strong, the number of new listings on the market couldn’t keep up, with just a 6.2% increase in new listings compared to 2020.The average sale price for the GTA was up 24% from the prior year to $1,157,849, and the City of Toronto was up 15.5% to an average of $1,033,029.

While some 6,031 sales were reported in the GTA in the twelfth month of 2021, this was 15.7% below 2020’s all-time December record of 7,154. That said, prices simply did not slow down, as all home types saw between an 18% (condos), 25% (semi-detached) and 28% (detached) increase year-over-year.

The death of the downtown condo throughout 2020 could not have been more turned on its head in 2021. So much so that TRREB credits the condo recovery in the 416 as a leading reason behind the resurgence of sales within the City of Toronto. While sales in the surrounding GTA were up an impressive 23.6% compared to 2020, the City of Toronto saw a significantly higher increase in its annual rate, with 2021 clocking in a rather stunning 36.8% above 2020 — a more than 50% higher jump in sales than the suburbs. In other words, if 2020 was the great migration from Toronto, 2021 was the great return.