The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says Greater Toronto home sales in April were down 5 per cent from last year, but new listings surged, which created more choice for buyers and kept prices stable.
The board says 7,114 homes changed hands in the month compared with 7,487 last year, noting April, 2023, saw a temporary resurgence in market activity that led to a sales boost.
The average selling price was up 0.3 per cent year-over-year to $1,156,167.
“Many homeowners are anticipating an increase in demand for ownership housing as we move through the spring,” said TRREB president Jennifer Pearce in a press release.
“While sales are expected to pick up, many would-be homebuyers are likely waiting for the Bank of Canada to actually begin cutting its policy rate before purchasing a home.”
Many market watchers expect the Bank of Canada to start cutting its key interest rate in June.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, sales were down by 3.4 per cent – the third consecutive month-over-month decline.
New listings jumped 47.2 per cent over the same period, with 16,941 properties put on the market last month compared with 11,509 in April, 2023.
The inventory surge in April was unsurprising, given spring is typically a hot season for new property listings, said Jessica Hammell, a broker who focuses on downtown and midtown Toronto properties for Real Broker Ontario.
The difference this year, said Ms. Hammell, is that demand isn’t keeping up just yet.
“Once it starts to get nice and the sun is shining, people definitely come out of the woodwork and start making their plans,” she said.
“I think it’s just tempered a bit by the hope of maybe getting a better rate down the line, but maybe not necessarily a lower price.”
TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer said he expects lower borrowing costs in the coming months will prompt tighter market conditions, resulting in renewed price growth, “especially as we move into 2025.”
In the City of Toronto, there were 2,581 sales last month, a 5-per-cent decrease from April, 2023. Throughout the rest of the GTA, home sales fell 4.9 per cent to 4,533.
All property types except townhouses saw fewer sales in April compared with a year ago throughout the GTA. Detached homes saw the biggest drop at 7.2 per cent, followed by condo apartments at 6.5 per cent.
There were 1 per cent fewer semi-detached home sales, while the number of townhouse properties that changed hands grew 0.7 per cent.
Some buyers are entering the market, but many in the region remain “cautiously optimistic” as they await rate cuts from the central bank later this year, said Ms. Hammell.
“People are making moves, but they’re all necessity-based,” she said.
“They’re upsizing for their growing family, they’re downsizing to simplify things in later life. But it’s less people being like, ‘I want to jump in as a first-time investor.”’
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
