Mississauga home prices increasing faster than other 905 cities

If you’re looking to buy a home in Mississauga, you still have to contend with a hot market that shows no signs of slowing down or swinging back into buyers’ market territory anytime soon. 

According to data recently released by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), Mississauga home prices experienced the greatest year-over-year increase out of all the 905 markets analyzed in May, with the average price hitting $1,064,630. 

But while Mississauga’s market is still hot, the Toronto and GTA market isn’t quite as frenzied as it was earlier in the year, with TRREB reporting that 13 per cent fewer homes in the region changed hands between April and May.

The board recently revealed that 11,951 homes were sold in the area in May, down from 13,663 in April but up from 4,594 during the same period last year when the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning.

May sales have averaged 10,336 between 2010 and 2019 and the month is typically the strongest the region sees every year, but 2021 bucked the trend, said TRREB.

“There has been strong demand for ownership housing in all parts of the GTA … fuelled by confidence in economic recovery and low borrowing costs,” said TRREB president Lisa Patel in a news release. 

“However, in the absence of a normal pace of population growth, we saw a pullback in sales over the past two months relative to the March peak.”

Real estate website and brokerage Zoocasa said that both home price growth and sales activity in Mississauga outpaced that of surrounding towns and cities, with a total of 1,071 homes trading hands in May–up 163 per cent year-over-year. Home prices hit an average of $1,064,630, up 34 per cent since May 2020. 

Zoocasa said a total of 1,686 new listings came to market, up 110 per cent. 

According to Zoocasa, detached and semi-detached houses led the annual increase in sales, up 182 per cent and 200 per cent with 411 and 165 transactions, respectively. The average price was $1,551,420 for a detached house, marking the biggest increase across all home types in the city (up 39 per cent), and $977,149 for semi-detached (up 23 per cent). 

Townhouse sales rose by 155 per cent with 196 transactions, at an average price of $774,098 (up 26 per cent), while condo sales rose 125 per cent with 254 transitions at an average price of $576,898 (up 16 per cent).

Despite a slight ebb in sales over the last two months, TRREB said market conditions remained “tight” enough to push the average selling price in the overall GTA to an all-time record in May.

The average home price was $1,108,453, up from $1,090,992 in April 2021 and $863,563 in May 2020.

The increase in average selling prices amounted to a 28.4 per cent spike on a year-over-year basis and caused the MLS home price index composite benchmark to soar by about 19 per cent year-over-year, TRREB said.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the average price increased by 1.1 per cent between April and May.

Those on the hunt for a new home had much more supply to choose from than was available at the same time last year.

According to TRREB, May saw 18,586 new listings, down from 20,825 in April but up from 9,126 last May.

The listings, however, weren’t enough to quell some of the market’s heated conditions, said TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer.

“People actively looking to purchase a home continue to face a lot of competition from other buyers, which results in very strong upward pressure on selling prices,” he said. 

“This competition is becoming more widespread with tighter market conditions in the condominium apartment segment as well.”

With files from Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press