[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto-area home sales set record high in 2016, average selling price soars"

[rfmcdonald]

The CBC carries a Canadian Press report on the changing contours of Toronto's real estate boom.

The Toronto Real Estate Board says the GTA's average home price soared to $730,472 last month, up 20 per cent from December 2015.

The board says strong December sales volume helped make 2016 a record year for realtors in the Greater Toronto Area.

There were 5,338 sales transactions for all types of residential property last month — including condo units and fully detached houses.

That was up 8.6 per cent compared with December 2015 — despite a tight supply of properties for sale.

The board's MLS house price index — which adjusts for the different types of properties — was up 21 per cent in December.

For the full year, TREB members had 113,133 sales through the MLS system — up 11.8 per cent compared with 2015, which had the previous record high.