The housing market will likely not reach the highs of 2016 and 2017—and, unless you're a seller, that's probably a good thing
The housing market will likely not reach the highs of 2016 and 2017—and, unless you’re a seller, that’s probably a good thing.
Nevertheless, if the Canadian Real Estate Association’s August statistics are any indication, the national housing market is back on track as it shows signs of sustained vitality. Transactions are 17% above February 2019, which was a six-year nadir. August still remains 10% below highs reached in 2016 and 2017, noted CREA, but activity was up in over 50% of the country’s local markets.
Winnipeg also just had a record August; the 1,439 sales surged 13% year-over-year and 9% above the five-year average. The dollar volume for sales in the city reached $411 million, nearly 10% over the August 2018. Last month also marks the first time Winnipeg sales have ever surpassed $400m.
Residential sales through the Toronto Real Estate Board’s MLS showed 7,711, which is 13.4% above the 6,797 reported in August 2018. Month-over-month, August sales increased 0.8%. The MLS Home Price Index Composite Benchmark for the month rose 4.9% over August 2018 with an average selling price of $792,611, for a year-over-year increase of 3.6%. The condo sector led the way in price growth.
Metro Vancouver has had a rough go of it but the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver recorded 2,231 sales last month, which is fully 15.7% higher than August 2018’s 1,929 sales. However, August saw a marked decline of 12.7% from July, when there were 2,557 sales recorded.
“In recent months, home prices have generally been stabilizing in British Columbia and the Prairies, a measure which had been falling until recently,” said a report from CREA. “Meanwhile, price growth has begun to rebound among markets in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) region amid ongoing price gains in housing markets east of it.
“The national average price is heavily skewed by sales in the GVA and GTA, two of Canada’s most active and expensive housing markets,” continued the report. “Excluding these two markets from calculations cuts more than $100,000 from the national average price, trimming it to less than $393,000 and reducing the year-over-year gain to 2.7%.”
