Home sales hit record high in March: CREA

The number of homes trading hands in March rose by 1.5%–a new month-over-month record. Though sales edged lower in Greater Vancouver (0.3%) and the Greater Toronto Area (1.8%), both remain near record highs reached the month before.

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“Greater Vancouver and the GTA are heading into the spring home buying season with soaring demand and a shortage of listings,” says CREA president Cliff Iverson. “Meanwhile, other major urban markets in Canada are well balanced or are amply supplied.”

Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist, adds,”Sales below a half-a-million dollars, which were not subject to recently tightened mortgage regulations, are being increasingly restrained in [some] markets by a short supply of listings. If current sales and listings trends persist, price gains may pick up further this spring.”

The number of newly listed homes fell 1.4% in March 2016 compared to February. The national decline was led by the GTA and Hamilton-Burlington, Ont.

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With sales up on the month and new listings down, the national sales-to-new listings ratio rose to 61.7% in March 2016, the ratio’s tightest reading since October 2009. A sales-to-new listings ratio between 40 and 60% is generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions, with readings below and above this range indicating buyers’ and sellers’ markets respectively.

Two-storey single family home prices posted the biggest year-over-year gain (10.8%), followed by townhouse/row units (8.6%), one-storey single family homes (8.1%), and apartment units (7.3%).

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The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average price for homes sold in March 2016 was $508,567, up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis.