Stats from the Canadian Real Estate Association show a decline of almost 9% in nationwide sales in May
Canadian home sales continued their downward trajectory in May and were in line with pre-Covid levels seen in the second half of 2019.
New figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) published Wednesday reveal sales were down 8.6% month-over-month and the actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions in May 2022 came in 21.7% below the record for that month set last year.
There were around 50,000 units sold in the month, close to the 10-year average for May. Sales were down in 3 in 4 local markets led by declines in the Lower Mainland, Calgary, Edmonton, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Ottawa.
“May picked up where April left off, with sales activity continuing to slow and softening prices in many parts of the country,” said Jill Oudil, Chair of CREA. “Inventories are finally beginning to rebuild from record lows just a few months ago, although we still have major supply shortages almost everywhere. With all that being said, we are in a period of rapid change, but one that should settle to a more balanced housing market in time.”
Prices were down slightly month-over-month (0.8%) but was still almost 20% up from May 2021. The national MLS HPI Benchmark price was $822,900.
Normal levels
Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s senior economist, noted that the slowdown had been expected and forecast for some time.
“What is surprising is how fast we got here. With the now very steep expected pace of Bank of Canada rate hikes, and fixed mortgage rates getting way out in front of those, instead of playing out steadily over two years, that cooling off of sales and prices seems to have mostly played out over the last two months,” he said.
