Housing rebounds
Sales up again
Garry Marr, Financial Post
Sales up again
Garry Marr, Financial Post
Published: Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The housing market continued to rebound in May with a fourth consecutive increase in monthly sales, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
The Ottawa-based group, which represents about 100 boards across the country, said the average sale price of a home sold through the Multiple Listing Service reached a record $319,757.
Despite the new threshhold, the May average sale price was only 0.4% ahead of last year. Nationally, prices are up 16.4% from the January low.
"Sales activity is now closer to the pre-recession peak than it is to the recent low point reached last January," said Dale Ripplinger, the Reginabased president of the association. "Strengthening consumer confidence, low interest rates and improved affordability are drawing buyers to the housing market across Canada."
CREA said transaction activity in the country's most expensive markets is leading to an overall rebound, which is helping to skew the average price upward. In the past, the reverse has happened.
There were 49,521 units sold last month, a 0.8% decline from May, 2008. CREA said monthly sales have been increasing, on a seasonally adjusted basis, since January. The association noted sales were up 43% last month from the January bottom, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Actual sales in May were up in 14 of the 25 major markets CREA surveys. Greater Vancouver sales jumped 16.4% in May from a year earlier. Toronto sales were up 1.9%, Montreal's 8.2%, Calgary's 11.3% and Edmonton's 18.7% from a year earlier.
A Re/Max Ontario-Atlantic Canada survey released last week showed the high-end of the market is starting to improve, too. The real estate company said Toronto set a monthly record for home sales of more than $1-million in May.
The jump in sales activity comes as supply is declining. The pace of new home construction is down close to 50% from last year while new listings in the existing homes market are also sharply declining.
CREA said new listings are at their lowest level since December, 2005. There were 49,438 new listings in the country's top markets, a 22.7% decline from a year earlier. Greater Vancouver saw new listings decline by 35% from a year ago while Toronto new listings were off 26.9%
The Ottawa-based group, which represents about 100 boards across the country, said the average sale price of a home sold through the Multiple Listing Service reached a record $319,757.
Despite the new threshhold, the May average sale price was only 0.4% ahead of last year. Nationally, prices are up 16.4% from the January low.
"Sales activity is now closer to the pre-recession peak than it is to the recent low point reached last January," said Dale Ripplinger, the Reginabased president of the association. "Strengthening consumer confidence, low interest rates and improved affordability are drawing buyers to the housing market across Canada."
CREA said transaction activity in the country's most expensive markets is leading to an overall rebound, which is helping to skew the average price upward. In the past, the reverse has happened.
There were 49,521 units sold last month, a 0.8% decline from May, 2008. CREA said monthly sales have been increasing, on a seasonally adjusted basis, since January. The association noted sales were up 43% last month from the January bottom, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Actual sales in May were up in 14 of the 25 major markets CREA surveys. Greater Vancouver sales jumped 16.4% in May from a year earlier. Toronto sales were up 1.9%, Montreal's 8.2%, Calgary's 11.3% and Edmonton's 18.7% from a year earlier.
A Re/Max Ontario-Atlantic Canada survey released last week showed the high-end of the market is starting to improve, too. The real estate company said Toronto set a monthly record for home sales of more than $1-million in May.
The jump in sales activity comes as supply is declining. The pace of new home construction is down close to 50% from last year while new listings in the existing homes market are also sharply declining.
CREA said new listings are at their lowest level since December, 2005. There were 49,438 new listings in the country's top markets, a 22.7% decline from a year earlier. Greater Vancouver saw new listings decline by 35% from a year ago while Toronto new listings were off 26.9%
