Toronto home resales jump 10% in July

Toronto's hot real estate market showed no signs of slowing down in July, as the number of home resales surged 10 per cent from the same month a year earlier.

Data from the Toronto Real Estate Board showed that 9,198 homes changed hands in the Greater Toronto Area last month. That's the second best July sales result on record.

"Sales were up strongly for most major home types and market conditions actually tightened, with sales growth outpacing listings growth.The result was average price growth wellabove the rate of inflation, saidboard president Paul Etherington in a release.

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The average sales price was up 7.5 per cent to $550,700, with the biggest increase occurring in the average selling price of.detached houses in the city of Toronto. Thosewere up 11 per cent year-over-year to an average of $880,433. Average condo prices in Toronto were up 4.7 per cent to $379,000.

The MLShome price index, which measures the rate at which housing prices change over time by tracking price changes in "typical" homes,showed similar strength. In the Greater Toronto Area, the composite resale home changed hands for $513,400, up 7.9 per cent from a year earlier.

The Toronto Real Estate Board said it expects "robust" price increases for the remainder of the year.

News that the country's biggest city is still in the throes of a red-hot housing market is bound to increase talk ofa housing bubble.

Last month, the Fitch ratings agency warned that Canada's housing market was overvalued by as much as 20 per cent. The research firmMorningstarsaida 30 per cent correction was possible over the next few years.

Many analystsforecast a soft landing for housing.But as price increases continue and mortgage holders become increasingly stretched,the OECDand World Bank have warned Canada about the increasing unaffordability of housing in cities like Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary.