TORONTO — Greater Toronto home sales slid 7.1 per cent last month compared with September 2022, with sales of semi-detached houses and townhouses particularly declining from last year.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says last month’s 4,642 home sales also marked a 12.1 per cent month-over-month decline from August.

The board attributes the downward trend to the impact of high borrowing costs, high inflation, uncertainty surrounding future Bank of Canada decisions and slower economic growth.

Meanwhile, the average home price reached $1,119,428, 3.4 per cent higher than in August and a three per cent increase from last September.

New listings surged 44.1 per cent to 16,258 in September compared with extremely low levels in September 2022, as the number of listings also trended upward on a month-over-month basis.

TRREB president Paul Baron says elevated borrowing costs are expected until mid-2024, after which they will start to trend lower, which suggests there will be an uptick in demand for housing ownership in the second half of next year.