We think the Toronto real estate market should borrow the US Postal Service motto “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night....” It seems appropriate these days when you consider that we are having the coldest and snowiest winter in memory, but when it comes to buying a house no one seems to care. In fact, home buyers came out in record numbers this week.

Freehold listings continued to fall with nearly 30% fewer listings than a week ago. That was most apparent in the central core where listings dropped by a substantial 37%. Given fewer listings we aren’t surprised that the number of sales slipped by a marginal 7.5% but the big news is that 67% of homes traded this week throughout the central, east and west cores, sold at or above asking price. That is the highest percentage since we have been tracking these statistics and a huge jump from the 54% last week.

The condo market is well on its way to market health again. Consider that listings are down marginally this week but sales are up nearly 50% from a week earlier. The biggest jump happened in the central core’s move-up market (condos listed between $700k and $1.5M). It is also interesting to note that multiple offers are on the rise. Last week, 18% of transactions occurred at or above the list price while this week that number is over 24%.