Existing Canadian Home Sales Continued to Rise in March—Market Remains Tight

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reported on Friday (4-14-23) that home sales recorded over the Canadian MLS® Systems posted a 1.4% increase from February to March 2023. The small increase built on an increase of the same size in February, marking the first back-to-back monthly gains in over a year.

The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions in March came in 34.4% below a historically strong March 2022. CREA notes that the March sales figure was comparable to what was seen for that month in 2018 and 2019. It was also the smallest year-over-year decline since September 2022.

The number of newly listed homes declined 5.8% on a month-over-month basis. The newly listed home supply is currently at a 20-year low. With new listings falling and sales moving higher once again in March, the sales-to-new listings ratio climbed to 63.5%—the tightest market in a year. The long-term average for this measure is 55.1%.

At the end of March, there was a 3.9-month inventory on a national basis, down from 4.1 months at the of February and the lowest level since October 2022. It is also now more than a full month below its long-term average.

The actual (not seasonally adjusted) Canadian national average home price was $686,371 in March, which is down 13.7% from March 2022 but up almost $ 75,000 from its January level. Excluding the Greater Toronto Area and Greater Vancouver Area from the calculation cuts more than $136,000 from the national average.