It was a sizzling hot year for housing markets across Canada's largest metropolitan areas. No stranger to skyrocketing home sales and prices, the Greater Toronto Area was once again an extremely competitive place to buy in 2021.

Stratospheric housing prices in the region may be a deterrent to some, but it turns out that the rich and ultra-rich are not shying away from the GTA's high-priced housing, the region outpacing every other Canadian market in luxury home sales.

According to Sotheby's International Realty Canada, sales of homes priced at over $4 million, including condominiums, attached and single-family homes, jumped by a shocking 224 per cent year-over-year with 805 properties sold.

This spike in luxury home sales includes gains in all markets, with luxury condos over $4 million rising 179 per cent with 43 units sold, attached homes rising 267 per cent with 16 units sold, and detached single-family home sales increasing by 227 per cent year-over-year with 746 homes sold.

But that's only the "luxury" category — the even pricier ultra-luxury market of homes costing over $10 million saw even more substantial growth last year, rising 238 per cent over 2020's figures.

Reserved for all but the wealthiest of buyers, sales volumes in luxury single-family homes priced above $10 million rose by 223 per cent in the region, with 29 of these monster homes sold.

These figures represent the entire region, including Durham, Halton, Peel, Toronto and York, though the numbers aren't quite as dramatic in Toronto proper. In the 416 area, sales of over $4 million jumped by 188 per cent, while the ultra-luxe $10 million+ category saw sales increases of 173 per cent yeat-over-year.

Homes priced above $1 million may have been considered luxury just a decade or two earlier, but they're now the average. This market is on the rise too, though, sales surging by 194 per cent year-over-year, even in the face of supply shortfalls that have been plaguing the market for years.