Average selling value takes off in Toronto-area and home sales sets record high in 2016.

From December 2015, the Toronto Real Estate Board says the GTA’s average home value took off $730,472 a month ago, up 20 per cent. The board says solid December deals volume made 2016 a record year for real estate agents in the Greater Toronto Area. There were 5,338 sales transactions for a wide range of residential property a month ago, including condo units and fully detached houses.

That was up 8.6%contrasted with December 2015 in spite of a tight supply of properties available to be purchased. The board’s MLS house value index, which adjusts for the distinctive sorts of properties, was up 21% in December. For the entire year, TREB individuals had 113,133 deals through the MLS framework, up 11.8% contrasted with 2015, which had the past record high.

“A relatively strong regional economy, low unemployment and very low borrowing costs kept the demand for ownership housing strong in the GTA, as the region’s population continued to grow in 2016,” TREB president Larry Cerqua said in a statement Thursday.

The board says upward force on valuing quickened as the year advanced and the general average selling cost for the date-book year was $729,922, up 17.3% contrasted with 2015.

“Total new listings for 2016 were down by almost four per cent,” said TREB’s director of market analysis, Jason Mercer.

In October, the national government rolled out various improvements aimed for balancing out the nation’s real estate markets, including requiring stress tests for every single insured mortgages.

The stress test change was expected to guarantee that Canadians don’t go up against bigger mortgages than they can deal with, especially in business sectors, for example, Toronto and Vancouver where affordability is extended.

On Wednesday, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported that home deals in Metro Vancouver, one of the nation’s most watched housing markets, fell 5.6% a year ago.

In the meantime, the composite benchmark cost for all private properties in Metro Vancouver, as measured by the Multiple Listing Service home value record, tumbled to $897,600 a month ago. That is down 17.8% contrasted with December 2015.