Canadian home sales and new listings up again in June

Home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems in June 2020 rebounded by a further 63%, returning them to normal levels for the month – some 150% above where they were in April.

Transactions were once again up on a m-o-m basis across the country. Among Canada’s largest markets, sales rose 83.8% in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), 75.1% in Montreal, 60.3% in Greater Vancouver, 99.7% in the Fraser Valley, 54.9% in Calgary, 59% in Edmonton, 22.5% in Winnipeg, 34.8% in Hamilton-Burlington, 67.9% in London and St. Thomas, 55.6% in Ottawa and 43.6% in Quebec City.Actual (not seasonally adjusted) sales activity posted a 15.2% y-o-y gain in June.“REALTORS® across Canada are increasingly seeing business pick back up,” stated Costa Poulopoulos, Chair of CREA. "With sellers and buyers returning to the market, we continue to make sure clients stay safe by complying with government and health officials’ directives and advice, increasingly using technology to list and show properties virtually while providing secure methods to complete required forms and contracts. As always, but maybe now more than ever, REALTORS® remain the best source for information and guidance when negotiating the sale or purchase of a home,” continued Poulopoulos.“While June’s housing numbers were mostly back at normal levels, we are obviously not back to normal at this point,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Senior Economist. “I guess the bigger picture is one of cautious optimism. The market has recovered much faster than many would have thought, but what happens later this year remains a big question mark. That said, daily tracking suggests that July, at least, will be even stronger.”The number of newly listed homes climbed by another 49.5% in June compared to May. As with sales activity, gains were recorded across the country.The national sales-to-new listings ratio tightened to 63.7% in June compared to 58.5% posted in May. The number of months of inventory is another important measure of the balance between sales and the supply of listings. It represents how long it would take to liquidate current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.There were only 3.6 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of June 2020 – a 16-year low for this measure.

The Aggregate Composite MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI) climbed 0.5% in June 2020 compared to May. (Chart B)Of the 20 markets currently tracked by the index, 17 posted m-o-m gains in June.Generally speaking, prices are re-accelerating east of Manitoba with the exception of Toronto for now. B.C. prices are also picking up with the exception of Vancouver. Home prices are declining in Calgary, while elsewhere on the Prairies prices are either flat or rising.The non-seasonally adjusted Aggregate Composite MLS® HPI was up 5.4% on a y-o-y basis in June.The MLS® HPI provides the best way to gauge price trends because averages are strongly distorted by changes in the mix of sales activity from one month to the next.The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average price for homes sold in June 2020 was almost $539,000, up 6.5% from the same month the previous year.The national average price is heavily influenced by sales in the Greater Vancouver and the GTA, two of Canada’s most active and expensive housing markets. Excluding these two markets from calculations cuts more than $107,000 from the national average price. In the months ahead, the extent to which sales fluctuate in these two markets relative to others could have large compositional effects on the national average price, both up and down.

- 30 -

PLEASE NOTE: The information contained in this news release combines both major market and national sales information from MLS® Systems from the previous month. CREA cautions that average price information can be useful in establishing trends over time, but does not indicate actual prices in centres comprised of widely divergent neighbourhoods or account for price differential between geographic areas. Statistical information contained in this report includes all housing types. MLS® Systems are co-operative marketing systems used only by Canada’s real estate Boards to ensure maximum exposure of properties listed for sale. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) is one of Canada’s largest single-industry associations, representing more than 130,000 REALTORS® working through 90 real estate boards and associations. Further information can be found at http://crea.ca/statistics.

For more information, please contact:

Pierre Leduc, Media Relations
The Canadian Real Estate Association
Tel: 613-237-7111 or 613-884-1460
E-mail: pleduc@crea.ca