Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail via CP A view of condo and apartment buildings looking northwest from King St. and Berkeley St. in Toronto, Jan. 30, 2019.

TORONTO ― The Toronto Real Estate Board says home sales were up 17.4 per cent in December compared with the same month last year, while the average price was up almost 12 per cent in the month from a year earlier. The December jump caps a surge in activity in the second half of last year, while a slower first half meant that overall 2019 sales were in line with annual medians for the decade. Watch: 3 things you can expect from Canada’s housing market in 2020. Story continues below.

The increased sales over 2018, even as new listings dropped 2.4 per cent year-over-year, helped push the average selling price for the year up by four per cent to $819,319. The average selling price in December was $837,788, up 11.9 per cent from a year earlier. “We certainly saw a recovery in sales activity in 2019, particularly in the second half of the year,” said Michael Collins, president of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB). “As anticipated, many home buyers who were initially on the sidelines moved back into the market place starting in the spring. Buyer confidence was buoyed by a strong regional economy and declining contract mortgage rates over the course of the year.”