Fewer home sales and lower average housing prices in Canada compared to last year

Real estate activity across Canada in June showed a drop in both sales and housing prices compared to June 2023, says the Canadian Real Estate Association, though sales perked up a bit compared to May 2024.

According to the latest numbers from CREA, home sales activity as registered in the Canadian Multiple Listing Service (MLS) went up by 3.7 per cent between May and June 2024.

However, monthly sales activity was 9.4 per cent lower compared to June 2023.

The average home price in Canada for June 2024 was $696,179, which is a drop of 1.6 per cent compared to the year before. In a press release, CREA senior economist Shawn Cathcart pointed out that June was not a "blow the doors off" month, but pointed to interest rate cuts as stimulating some sales.

"Canada's housing numbers did perk up a bit on a month-over-month basis in June following the first Bank of Canada rate cut," wrote Cathcart.

MO Capital Markets senior economist Robert Kavcic told CBC News he believes the overall story for Canada's housing market is that right now, it's not moving very much - which could be good news for potential buyers who could dodge the intense bidding wars of the last few years.

"Sales are pretty flat. Prices are very much flat across the country on a national level," said Kavcic.

However, he pointed out that different regions of Canada, as is often the case, have very different real estate markets.

"There are markets like Toronto and Vancouver where prices are falling, but you have areas like Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Atlantic Canada where affordability is a lot better and prices are actually rising in those markets," said Kavcic.

The economist also said his team's perspective is that the mortgage costs haven't dropped enough yet to deeply shift the cost of a home for many.

"Our view is that prices nationally are just going sideways for the rest of the year, and there just is not enough interest rate relief yet in the pipeline to make the calculation work from an affordability perspective," he said.