Canadian housing market picking up steam in the second half of 2018
By Newinhomes on Aug 16, 2018
The Canadian Real Estate Association released its home sales statistics for July 2018, reporting an increase in national activity!
National home sales jumped 1.9% from June to July, generating positive forecasts for the second half of the year and renewed confidence from buyers. On a year-over-year basis, sales were still down 1.3%. According to the stats, increased sales activity in the Greater Toronto Area offset the slowdown in British Columbia.
“This year’s new stress test on mortgage applicants continues to weigh on home sales but its effect may be starting to fade slightly in Toronto and nearby markets,” says CREA President Barb Sukkau. “The degree to which the stress test continues to sideline home buyers varies depending on location, housing type and price range. All real estate is local, and REALTORS® remain your best source for information about sales and listings where you live or might like to in the future.”
New listings dropped 1.2% from June to July, but the national inventory remains at 5.3 months, hovering around the long term average of 5.2 months.
The national average sale price increased 1% year-over-year, coming in just under $481,500. It may be a small increase, but this is the first year-over-year growth since January 2018. As usual, Vancouver and the GTA heavily skewed the average; remove these two areas from the equation and the average price falls to around $383,000.
Apartments saw the greatest year-over-year price gain, increasing 10.1%. Townhomes followed with selling prices 4.7% higher than the same period last year. When it comes to the one-storey and two-storey singles, prices for the former fell 0.7% while the latter dropped 1.5%.
In the Greater Golden Horseshoe, home prices jumped 4% in Guelph, stayed steady in Oakville–Milton, dropped 0.6% in the GTA, and the biggest drop of 3% was in Barrie and District.
“Improving national home sales activity in recent months obscures significant differences in regional trends for home sales and prices,” says Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist. “Regardless, rising interest rates and this year’s stress test on mortgage applicants will likely prove to be difficult hurdles to overcome for many would-be first time and move-up homebuyers, heading into the second half of the year and beyond.”
