February sets record for Canadian housing sales
Published March 15, 2021 at 10:51 pm
February set another record for housing sales in Canada.
According to statistics from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales increased by 6.6 per cent on a month-over-month basis in February.
Additionally, activity (not seasonally adjusted) was up 39.2 per cent year-over-year (y-o-y), and the number of newly-listed properties increased by 15.7 per cent from January to February.
Further, the national average sale price (not seasonally adjusted) increased by 25 per cent y-o-y in February.
Moreover, y-o-y prices increased by 25 to 30 per cent in Hamilton, 20 to 25 per cent in Oakville and Milton, and 10 to 15 per cent in Mississauga.
“We are right at the start of the first undisturbed (by policy or lockdown) spring housing market in years and we also have the most extreme demand-supply imbalance ever by a large margin. So, the question is, what is going on? I think part of it is demand that built up as a result of regulatory changes in the years leading up to COVID that is playing out now. Part of it is demand that is being pulled forward from the future either in search of a home base to ride out the pandemic, or to lock down a purchase amid rapidly rising prices while securing a record low mortgage rate,” Shaun Cathcart, senior economist with the CREA, said in a news release.
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“But maybe the biggest factor here is the emergence of existing owners with major equity, prompted by the great shake-up that is COVID-19 to pull up stakes and move. First-time buyers, which we have a lot of, are now having to compete with that as well,” he continued.
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