Building sales plunged for a fourth straight month. However, a shortage of available properties kept prices below the highs they reached earlier this year.
The number of homes sold in the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board dropped 2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from June, bringing the number of sales to the lowest in at least a year, according to data released Wednesday by the Canada largest metropolitan area. How can we expect the new listings to decline by more than 30 % after July 2020.
Prices in July increased from the month before, still seasonally adjusted. The average price of a detached home sold during the month was $1.4 million.
Housing supply is also an issue in many Canadian major cities. Vancouver's real estate board said new listings in July were 12.3% below the Montreal average for the month, while the number of sales and properties on the market also declined in July.
'Many homes are still competing very hard to reach a home settlement agreement, Jason Mercer, chief market analyst at the Toronto real estate board, said in a press release accompanying its report. 'This strong upward pressure on home prices will be sustained in the absence of more supply, especially as we see a resurgence in population growth moving into 2022.
Some of the drivers of Canada's housing boom have gone into disrepute. Pandemic lockdowns that hurt demand for larger homes have been eased and some mortgage rates have ticked up. That is causing real estate players to look to the long-term driver of Canada's housing market, immigration-driven population growth, to resume and support prices.
There is a huge backlog of people seeking citizenship or permanent residency in Canada, John DiMichele, Toronto real estate board's chief executive officer, said in a statement. 'This means the ownership and rental market conditions will remain tight with upward pressure on prices for the foreseeable future. Policy makers at all levels must pursue a coordinated effort to bring on a greater diversity of supply in major metropolitan areas.