Canadian Funding Corp Review – The seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of housing starts reached 150,100 units in September compared to 157,300 units in August, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
“The decline in housing starts in September is attributable to the volatile multiple starts segment,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “However, starts of single homes, which are a barometer of the trend in housing markets, climbed in September to reach their highest level so far this year. The rebound in existing home sales and the upward trend in new home construction, support our expectation that housing demand has strengthened and that housing starts will be stronger in the second half of 2009.”
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts declined by 5.2 per cent to 131,500 units in September. Urban multiple starts decreased by 21.4 per cent to 62,700 units, while urban single starts moved up 16.8 per cent to 68,800 units in September.
September’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 11.8 per cent in Ontario, decreased by 20.2 per cent in Quebec, by 18.1 per cent in British Columbia, and by 4.7 per cent in the Atlantic, and was unchanged in the Prairies.
Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 18,600 units in September.
Existing MLS® home sales activity increased for the second month in a row in March 2009, according to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). The number of new listings also continued trending lower in March, which firmed up the balance of supply to demand.
Reported bu Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO.
A seasonally adjusted total of 31,135 homes traded hands nationally via the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in March 2009. This is an increase of seven per cent from the previous month, and builds on the 10.3 per cent activity gain in February. The number of transactions in March 2009 stands 18 per cent above levels reported in
January 2009, when activity sank to the lowest level in a decade.
The monthly increase in activity was largest in British Columbia (13.6 per cent), and Ontario (10.5 per cent). Sales were also up from February levels in Manitoba, Quebec, and Newfoundland & Labrador.
Actual (not seasonally adjusted) transactions numbered 35,225 units in March 2009. While this remains 13.7 per cent below levels reported in March 2008, it is the smallest year-over-year decline in six months.
The national average price for home sales via the MLS® remains below levels reached one year earlier, but year-over-year declines are shrinking. The MLS® average residential price for homes sold in March 2009 was $288,641, down 7.7 per cent from March 2008. This is the smallest year-over-year decline in six months.
The average price for homes sold via the MLS® set a new record in March 2009 in Manitoba, and remained above year-ago levels in Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador.
The national average price continues to be skewed downward by lower activity in some of Canada’s more expensive housing markets and by fewer transactions at the higher end of the price spectrum. British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, where homes are more expensive, are significant contributors to the current downward trend in national average price. MLS® home sales activity in these provinces accounted for 69 per cent of national activity in March 2008, compared to 67 per cent in March 2009.
The price trend is less dramatic for the weighted national MLS® average price, which compensates for changes in provincial sales activity by taking into account provincial proportions of privately owned housing stock. The weighted national MLS® average sale price was down 4.7 per cent year-over-year in March, compared to a 5.1 per cent decline in February.
“Housing markets are starting to show signs of buyer interest because of lower prices and interest rates,” says Dale Ripplinger, President of The Canadian Real Estate Association. “We expect April sales activity will feel some effects from the federal government incentives announced in the last budget, including the increase in the maximum withdrawal allowed under the Home Buyers’ Plan, and the First Time Buyer Tax Credit.”
Q1 2009 Results
Seasonally MLS® adjusted MLS® sales activity in the first quarter of 2009 was little changed compared to the fourth quarter of 2008, declining by less than one-tenth of a per cent.
The number of homes for sale remains high, but continues trending downward. Seasonally adjusted national MLS® residential new listings numbered 208,755 units in the first quarter of 2009. This is down 6.4 per cent from the previous quarter, and represents the third consecutive quarter-over-quarter decline. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of MLS® residential new listings has dropped 11.9 per cent from the peak reached in the second quarter of 2008.
With sales activity increasing and new listings trending lower, the balance between supply and demand is firming up in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. These provinces have the largest influence on the national housing picture, so a firming housing market balance there in March 2009 caused the national housing market balance to tighten for the fourth time in as many months.
“A number of major housing markets are stabilizing, as buyers respond to improving affordability,” said CREA Chief Economist Gregory Klump. “Looking back to economic recessions in the early 1980s and 1990s, national resale housing activity bottomed out before the job market or economy did,” said Klump. “It will take time for ample supplies of new and existing homes to be drawn down, but demand appears to be stabilizing.”
PLEASE NOTE: The information contained in this news release combines both major market and national MLS® sales information from the previous month. The Canadian Real Estate Association has previously released these separately.
CREA cautions that average price information can be useful in establishing trends over time, but does not indicate actual prices in centres comprised of widely divergent neighborhoods or account for price differential between geographic areas. Statistical information contained in this report includes all housing types.
MLS® is a co-operative marketing system used only by Canada’s real estate Boards to ensure maximum exposure of properties listed for sale.
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) is one of Canada’s largest single-industry trade associations, representing more than 98,000 REALTORS® working through more than 100 real estate Boards and Associations. Further information can be found at www.crea.ca.
This is the latest article regarding the health of the Canadian real estate industry for the month of May. Published today on the msn finance page. Certainly worth a read as it shows the Real Estate market in a very positive light. As I noted in my post yesterday Canmore real estate is starting to move again with increased activity driving the sales.
REUTERS
June 15, 2009
TORONTO (Reuters) – Resale prices for Canadian homes rose to their highest average on record in May, while sales activity climbed for a fourth straight month as consumer confidence strengthened, according to an industry report released on Monday.
But rebounding sales in some of the most expensive markets skewed the national average, the Canadian Real Estate Association said in the report.
The average home price last month rose 0.4 percent to C$319,757 ($282,971), topping the previous record set a year ago. It was the first year-over-year increase since May last year.
The average price has recovered 16.4 percent from the low reached in January, CREA said.
Home sales rose 8 percent to 37,649 units in May from April, the fourth consecutive monthly increase on a seasonally adjusted basis. Nationally, 49,521 units changed hands in May, down 0.8 percent from a year ago.
“New records were posted in only 15 percent of local markets in May, none of which are among the most active or expensive,” CREA said.
“The strong rebound in sales activity, not price, in Canada’s most expensive markets is driving up average prices nationally and in some provinces, just as a sharp decline in activity in these markets pushed average prices lower in late 2008.”
Of the 25 major markets that CREA tracks, 14 reported rises in unit sales year-over-year, with five markets, mostly in the western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, posting double-digit increases.
Prices rose in 14 markets, led by a 17.3 percent increase in Newfoundland and Labrador and a 12.1 percent climb in Saint John, New Brunswick.