Toronto home sales for 2017 down 18.3 per cent from 2016, average price up

The Toronto Real Estate Board says home sales in the Greater Toronto Area fell 18.3 per cent last year compared with a record pace set in 2016.

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There were 92,394 sales through its MLS system in 2017, down from 113,040 in the previous year.

The board says there were record sales in the first quarter of last year, followed by a decline in the middle two quarters before sales picked up in the last three months of the year.

The average selling price for 2017 was $822,681, up 12.7 per cent compared with 2016.

The board says sales in December totalled 4,930, down from 5,305 in the final month of 2016.

The average price for the last month of 2017 was $735,021, up from $730,125 a year earlier.