It’s time for a little Oscar buzz of our own. In the category of hot real estate markets, the winner is.....Downtown Toronto. Critics praise this little independent story of the city market, facing threats of foreign ownership, traffic gridlock, falling glass, a second land transfer tax, and a wayward mayor. People are lining up just to get a glimpse of its stars and The Globe and Mail gives it “two thumbs up”!

The freehold market showed a remarkable improvement in the number of listings this week over last week... and not a minute too soon. Listings jumped by nearly 22%, with the bulk of that happening in the central core. Of course sales did not disappoint as we saw a 42% increase in sales over the same period. Clearly the increase in listings is still not meeting demands as we continue to witness, first hand, a phenomenal number of multiple offer situations. For the second week in a row, homes selling at or above the list price remain at near historic levels (65%).

The condo market continues to demonstrate its health. Even though listings have increased this week by 20% over last week, sales have also accelerated by over 37% with the central core being responsible for the lion’s share of that growth. Sales at or above the asking price backed off slightly mostly due to buyers having more choice. Continuing its trend, the entry level market remains the most active across all price categories.