The Toronto Real Estate Board has just released some new stats about last year's housing market in the city, and the numbers are pretty drastic, though unsurprising.

TREB President reported that Dec 2019 residential sales through TREB’s MLS® System by GTA REALTORS® were up by 17.4% year-over-year to 4,399. The MLS® Home Price Index was up 7.3% year-over-year in Dec & avg price $837,788 – up 12%.
Click here for more: https://t.co/hcDM8aMFnC pic.twitter.com/yknAxECaAo

— TREB (@TREBhome) January 7, 2020

In December alone, residential sales across Toronto were up more than 17 per cent compared to the same period in 2018, while the year as a whole was up nearly 13 per cent compared to 2018 (which admittedly saw a decade low of housing sales).

This is despite a lower number of both new and active listings in 2019 — 18 per cent fewer of the former and a whopping 35 per cent fewer of the latter in December 2019 vs. December 2018 — which meant higher prices in the face of declining employment and GDP.

House prices up 20%, Condos up 10%, new December records from r/toronto

The average selling price across all listings in December 2019 was up nearly 12 per cent compared to December 2018, hitting $837,788. Prices for 2019 as a whole were up 4 per cent year-over-year.

The price of a condo in Toronto and the 905 in 2019 overall, on average, was $587,958, but $612,464 in December ($661,598 in just the City of Toronto) — this is compared to less than $600,000 in December 2018, less than $540,000 in 2017, and less than $470,000 in 2016.

Decembers of the four years prior to 2016 saw condo prices average out at or below $400,000 — it's sad to think that those prices can now be considered the glory days for buyers.

Tight Toronto housing market pushes prices to record highs with biggest gains in three years
'Expect further acceleration in 2020 if there is no relief on the supply front'https://t.co/Fd1jditrx6

— Brevity Capital (@BrevityCapital) January 7, 2020

Detached homes in the GTA sold for an average of $1,016,776 in the year of 2019 and $1,052,081 in December specifically ($1,363,357 among downtown condos), further indication of a market that shot up substantially at the end of the year. And, the board predicts even higher prices this coming year.

Detached homes remained the most popular type of residential real estate sold in 2019, followed by condo apartments.

Months of Inventory, a figure that represents how many months it would take to sell all of the homes on a given market, was down from 3.1 per cent in 2018 to 1.7 per cent last year — a bad thing for buyers, who would ideally want to purchase in a market that has an MOI of four to six.

Housing is commodified, councilors know it in Toronto, yet still refuse to do anything tangible about it. Do your research before you come, get a solid job offer, and look into the prices of rent before you choose an unaffordable city #toronto, #right2housing, #welcometocanada https://t.co/kQ8xlbwFIx

— centeringpendulum (@centeringpendu1) November 14, 2019

The board notes that a strong regional economy and lowering mortgage rates were factors in buyer confidence last year, though it is very concerned with the housing supply in Toronto and the surrounding area.

"The lack of a diverse supply of ownership and rental housing continues to hamper housing affordability in the GTA," the report reads.

Well, anyone trying to afford living in Toronto right now could have told you that.