Canada’s housing market came roaring back in a big way in July, smashing the record for the most homes sold during the month, and average prices rising 14 per cent from where they were a year ago.
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), which represents 130,000 realtors across Canada, said Monday that 62,355 Canadian resale homes were sold via the Multiple Listings Service, shattering the previous record for most sales in a month.
The July figure was 26 per cent higher than June’s figure. July is not typically the busiest time of the year for home sales, but as it has with just about everything else, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the old ways out the window.
The housing market typically starts off the year slow in the colder months, before warming up in the early spring and usually peaking in about May or June. By later in the summer, sales start to slow, and then go into hibernation through the winter before the cycle starts up again.
But the arrival of COVID-19 in March has seemingly delayed that schedule, as sales in March and April were wiped out because of lockdowns, and that home selling activity is only now returning to the market.
“What a difference three months makes, from some of the lowest housing numbers ever back in April to the multiple monthly records logged in July,” CREA’s chief economist Shaun Cathcart said of the numbers.
“A big part of what we’re seeing right now is the snap back in activity that would have otherwise happened earlier this year.”
The sales boom is being led by Canada’s biggest cities, as home sales rose by 49.5 per cent in the Greater Toronto Area, 43.9 per cent in Greater Vancouver and by 39.1 per cent in Montreal.
Prices rising at fastest pace since 2017
The average selling price in July was $571,500, an increase of 14.3 per cent from the same level a year earlier.
CREA says the average price can be misleading because it is easily influenced by sales of expensive properties in big markets like Toronto and Vancouver. So the realtor group calculates another number, known as the Home Price Index, which it says is a better gauge of the market because it strips out that volatility, and adjusts for both the volume and type of housing being sold in every market.
The HPI increased at a 7.4 per cent annual rate in July. That’s the fastest pace of gain since 2017. All 20 of the biggest housing markets in Canada had a higher HPI number in July than they did in June.
Prices are increasing and so are sales, but it’s clear the market is still being very much impacted by COVID-19.
The inventory level, which is the total amount of homes available for sale, has fallen to its lowest level in 16 years.
“There are listings that will come to the market because of COVID-19, but many properties are also not being listed right now due to the virus,” Cathcart said.
Home sales that normally might have happened in the spring are only happening now, which is messing with the normal state of Canada’s housing market. (The Associated Press)
TD Bank economist Brian DePratto said “it looks like we got at least one ‘V’ recovery after all,” referring to the shape of the bounceback — a sharp drop followed by an equally sharp recovery.
“In just three short months, Canadian resale activity and average prices have not just popped back to above pre-pandemic levels, but to new record highs,” he said.
While he described the July numbers as “impressive,” DePratto noted that there’s ample reason to doubt that they can be sustained.
DePratto notes that massive government programs to subsidize wages, along with bank mortgage interest deferral programs, have done a lot to insulate the housing market from some of the pain that’s happening in other parts of the economy. But those impacts can’t be put off forever. “As autumn approaches, these programs will expire or change form,” he said. “Depending on the progress of the broader economic recovery, this could bring significant headwinds to housing markets, particularly prices.”
Bank of Montreal economist Robert Kavcic is also of the view that the housing market can’t continue to defy expectations during a recession forever. “Home buying demand has continued to build, which is contrary to what you’d normally see,” he said. “Part of this reflects the fact that the mid-to-upper income range of the job market has held up very well versus the lower end [but] one has to expect that the level of pent-up demand seen in July is going to fade through the rest of the year.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
