Another RECORD BREAKING month for the GTA!!  Here are the highlights..

*Sales UP 9% compared to January 2011

*Average sale price UP 9% compared to Jan 2011

*New listings UP BY 8%(JILL'S THRILL!)  BUT....total listings DOWN by 10% (JILL'S PILL!!) and that's because the ABSORPTION RATE of new listings is sooooo fast that we net out with still not enough inventory to satisfy our hungry crowd of buyers!

*average Days on Market this year is 32 compared to 36 last year and in some areas of the city there are only 1.4 months of inventory...where 4 to 5 months are needed to have a balanced market!

*But let's drill down further....look at these numbers!

Average sale price for a DETACHED home:   in GTA  is  $586K

                                                                      in City  is  $743K

                                                                      in CORE is $1,151K  YIKES!

Average Sale price for CONDO:             in GTA is $321K

                                                               in City is $343K

                                                               in CORE is $407K

So for you first timers....affordability and choice/supply IS out there...if you're looking for a Condo.

BOTTOM LINE:  Toronto is still affordable as long as INTEREST RATES stay historically low...and we see NO CHANGE there for the foreseeable future.  What you MAY see...is a further tightening of qualifying for a mortgage....ie: lenders may decide that 25% is the qualifying level for a conventional mortgage....I think this is just fine...it protects us from ourselves....WHAT DO YOU THINK??