Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area decreased by 7.1 percent last month compared to September 2022, with sales of semi-detached and detached homes particularly down from last year.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says that home sales totaling 4,642 last month also saw a 12.1 percent month-over-month decline compared to August.

The board attributes this downward trend to the impact of rising borrowing costs, higher inflation, uncertainty surrounding the Bank of Canada's future decisions, and a slowdown in economic growth.

Meanwhile, the average home price was $1,119,428, which is 3.4 percent higher than in August and up three percent from last September.

New listings rose by 44.1 percent to 16,258 in September compared to extremely low levels in September 2022, with the number of listings also trending upward on a month-over-month basis.

Regional Real Estate Board President, Paul Baron, says borrowing costs are expected to rise until mid-2024, after which they will start to trend downward, indicating that there will be an increase in demand for home ownership in the second half of next year.