Canadian home sales increased 4.1 per cent month-over-month from February to March, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association’s (CREA) statistics. The number of sales recorded through the MLS® systems of Canadian real estate boards and associations marked a year-over-year rise in March sales of 9.5 per cent (not seasonally adjusted).
CREA observed an uptick in month-over-month sales in almost two-thirds of all local markets. Although Calgary and Edmonton were among the leading local markets, their sales fell short of the 10-year average for the month of March.
“Low mortgage interest rates are good news for affordability as we head into the spring home buying season,” said Pauline Aunger, president of CREA. “This spring should see buyers coming off the sidelines in places where winter was anything but mild.”
In March, the year-over-year national average sale price (not seasonally adjusted) was up 9.4 per cent, reaching $439,144. Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver, two of Canada’s most active and expensive housing markets, skewed the national average home price. When they are removed from the equation, the year-over-year national average home price gain falls to 2.4 per cent, putting the national average home price at $332,711.
“Greater Vancouver and the GTA are really the only two hot spots for home sales and prices in Canada,” said Gregory Klump, chief economist, CREA. “Price gains in these two markets are being fuelled by a shortage of single family homes for sale in the face of strong demand. Meanwhile, supply and demand for homes is well balanced among the vast majority of housing markets elsewhere across Canada.”
In March, new listings edged up 1.8 per cent, month over month, producing a sale-to-new-listings ratio of 53.9 per cent. About 60 per cent of local housing markets were within the 40 to 60-per-cent sales-to-new-listings ratio CREA indicated is consistent with balanced housing market conditions.
For the first time since last May, the Aggregate Composite MLS® Home Price Index rose less than five per cent year over year, increasing 4.95 per cent, year over year, this March.
