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The Toronto Real Estate Board had predicted a sluggish start to 2018, particularly when compared to peak levels during the opening months of last year, when frenzied activity fuelled double-digit price increases and bidding wars were commonplace. The market cooled following the introduction in April of new measures by the Ontario government, including a foreign buyers’ tax. New mortgage rules that make it tougher to qualify for a loan also took effect in January.

“You really have to just throw out 2017 as a benchmark,” said Christopher Alexander, Executive Vice-President and regional director for Re/MAX, who characterized it as an “outlier year.”

“We all knew that with the market the way it was last year and all the new rules, the numbers would be way down by comparison,” he said.

Sales of upper-end homes in January and February were more in line with the same period in 2016, when the market was less heated, he added.

The slump in luxury home transactions was largely due to a dearth of quality listings in the segment, Re/MAX said. Much of what is currently on the market is dated and in need of significant investment, while newer properties that are in good condition are often selling within 30 days and realizing 98 to 100 per cent of their list prices.

“It’s hard to say why so few properties are coming on the market,” Alexander said, adding that luxury buyers tend to be insulated from fluctuations in interest rates. “Part of it is if they sell where are they going to go? There’s not much out there.”