Canadian Real Estate Sales Rise Over 12% From Last Year
Canadian real estate sales showed massive growth compared to the past few years. CREA reported 47,793 sales in July, up 0.07% from the month before. This represents an increase of 12.60% compared to the same month last year. Yes, that is a very substantial increase on an annual basis. July sales were the highest for the month since 2016.
CREA Chief Economist Gregory Klump notes, “Sales are starting to rebound in places where they dropped when the mortgage stress test took effect at the beginning of 2018, but activity there remains well below levels recorded prior to its introduction.” Further adding, “sales continue to rise in housing markets where the mortgage stress test had little impact due to upbeat local economic conditions and a supply of affordably priced homes.”
Quebec City, Toronto, And Vancouver Markets Top Growth
The top annual increases were observed in Quebec City, Toronto, and Vancouver. Quebec City reported 629 sales in July, up 35.3% from the same month last year. Toronto followed with 8,595 sales, up 23.5% from last year. Vancouver came in third with 2,584 sales, up 22.6% from last year. Quebec’s large increase is relatively easy to see in such a small market, but the other two – not so much. However, both Toronto and Vancouver are coming off multi-year lows last year. The rise didn’t take either market back to historically typical levels, but it’s big growth.
Only Two Major Canadian Real Estate Markets Showed Declines
There must be something in the water, because only 2 major markets are showing declines. Saskatoon made the biggest drop with 459 sales in July, down 8.9% from last year. Windsor-Essex followed with 707 sales, a decline of just 0.7% from last year. That’s it. The next major market is Winnipeg with 1,365 sales, up 4.7% from last year. Yes, the third slowest market showed nearly 5% growth in sales. That’s absurdly large growth for the third slowest major market.
“Canadian real estate sales made an unusual increase last month, bucking seasonal declines. Ironically, this irregular increase puts the market close to historical levels of buying. It’s not there yet, but the growth combined with a major rise in sales show the trend may be reversing. This begs the question, if things are almost back to normal – why is the government giving stimulus later this year?” – Better Dweling
Want to check out the stats for July? Head over to our blog post HERE!
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