The number of homes sold last month in the Greater Toronto Area plunged a whopping 37.3 per cent compared to the same month a year ago, the city's real estate board said Thursday, weeks after Ontario introduced measures aimed at cooling the housing market. The Toronto Real Estate Board said 7,974 homes changed hands in June while the number of new properties on the market climbed 15.9 per cent year over year to 19,614. The average price for all properties was $793,915, up 6.3 per cent from the same month last year. Ontario's measures, retroactive to April 21, include a 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region, expanded rent controls and legislation allowing Toronto and other cities to tax vacant homes. "We are in a period of flux that often follows major government policy announcements pointed at the housing market," TREB president Tim Syrianos said in a statement.

Source: CBC News July 06, 2017 13:11 UTC