That sizzling sound you hear is not bacon – it’s the red hot real estate market in the GTA.

The number of home sales in Canada hit a record high in March with the Toronto-area leading the way.

”Toronto always swings the biggest bat in Canada, but even more so lately,” says Shawn Cathcart, senior economist for the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Non-seasonally adjusted national sales were up 6.6% year-over-year last month, with Toronto climbing 17%, offsetting a decline of 31.5% in Vancouver – where foreign investor and vacant home taxes were brought in last year.

The statistics were released on the same day as Mayor John Tory met with federal and provincial finance ministers Bill Morneau and Charles Sousa to discuss possibly imposing similar measures to cool the GTA market.