The Toronto Real Estate Board has announced that the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) housing market recorded 9,411 transactions in May. On a year-over-year basis the GTA average price increased four percent to $398,148 from an average of $382,767 in May 2007. Prices increased three percent in the City of Toronto to $434,271 from $422,163 the previous year.

This is further evidence that real estate continues to be a solid investment in Toronto. Employment in the GTA continues to be strong and interest rates remain low, meaning consumers have the financial resources to buy homes and have a variety of choices to manage carrying the costs.

Vacancies are also expected to drop to an all-time low to 5.3% in the second quarter of 2008, a decline from the first quarter result of 5.6%. The rate is then expected to drop below 5% in the third quarter.

In fact, the Toronto region has gone through five years of occupancy growth and declining vacancies, resulting in large rental rate increases. In the last year, net asking rent rates in the Greater Toronto area increased from $16.10 per square foot in Q1 2007 to $17.98 in Q1 2008. The Toronto market ��" as opposed to the wider GTA market ��" has enjoyed the lowest vacancy rates, falling to 3.6% in the first quarter of 2008. Rent rates increased from $20.71 per square foot to $23.86, a 15% annual increase.

Indeed, Toronto is one of the only places in the world where rental yields rise in line with property size, and Canada the only established market in the world with average rental yields of around 8 percent.