Return of consumer real estate confidence

House prices in neighbourhoods across Toronto rose significantly last year, thanks to a return of consumer confidence after a wilted 2008.

West-end Bloordale Village and east-end Riverdale joined Willowdale and the Bridle Path in the north with some of the biggest jumps, according to year-end numbers released by the Toronto Real Estate Board yesterday.

The Greater Toronto Area saw a total of 87,308 transactions, a 17% increase over 2008 -- although below the record 93,193 transactions in 2007. The average price of a home bought in 2009 also climbed 4% from 2008 to $395,460.

"The demand is very high and there are not enough sellers on the market,'' said Re/Max Realton's Julie Han-Emery, who noted: ''The housing prices in the Willowdale area are very high, it's a very desirable area. I think there is a lot of demand there."

Last month, the average GTA home price was $411,931, far surpassing December 2008's $361,415. In the city of Toronto itself, the average price in December reached $441,607, up from $387,482 in 2008.

''It was our contention that once consumer confidence began to turn around you would see people move back into the housing market pretty quickly," said Jason Mercer, TREB's senior manager of market analysis.

While the market was up across the Greater Toronto Area, neighbourhoods such as Bloordale Village/High Park saw specifically higher average housing prices. After dropping in average sale price in 2008 to $401,901 from $435,353 the previous year, sales in the area rebounded to $498,778 in 2009 (a two-year jump of $63,425).

"Bloordale is an area that is really coming together. You get houses that need renovation and ... is really attractive because you can get in at a decent price. It's perfect for a first-time buyer," sad Kim Kehoe, a Royal Lepage West realtor in the area. "With the High Park area, you have Roncesvalles which is so much in demand, and there is just no supply. Anything that comes out there, you would have 13 people bidding on a property."

Willowdale jumped up $50,364 from two years ago to $430,131, while the Bridle Path and Riverdale both improved by about $49,000, to average sale prices of $1,315,088 and $458,045 respectively.

In the Bridle Path, the price of a detached house specifically increased dramatically, to $2,359,346 from $1,650,205 in 2007.

The average price of houses in the Forest Hill/Oakwood-Vaughan area were actually down $89,169 to $734,748 from two years ago. However, the price of a detached house increased against this trend, to $1,063,881 from $944,667 in 2007.

And the average price of sales in Moore Park were down $81,560 to $1,003,663, while the price of a detached house increased dramatically against this trend, to $2,757,944 from $2,060,800 in 2007.

In these cases, it was the slightly higher number of lower valued housing, such as semi-detached homes and condo apartments, that led to the overall drop in average value. In each category, sale prices were up over 2007.

("Toronto home prices bounced back in 2009, figures show" prepared by Matthew Coutts/National Post)