Home sales rise, yet still historically low

National home sales climbed 5.1% month-over-month in May, with actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity at 1.4% above May 2022, says the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). The number of newly listed properties rose 6.8% month-over-month but is still historically low. Sales were up in about 70% of all local markets, including Canada's largest markets: the Greater Toronto, ON, Area (GTA); Montreal, QC; Greater Vancouver, BC; Calgary and Edmonton, AB; and Ottawa, ON. “The rebound has been evident for a number of months at this point, but May really drove the point home with year-over-year comparisons for both national sales activity and national average home price back in positive territory,” says Larry Cerqua, chair of CREA. “That being said, the degree to which a recovery will be able to play out on the sales side as opposed to the price side will come down to supply, which remains quite low.” With sales and new listings up by similar magnitudes in May, the sales-to-new listings ratio was 67.9%, little changed from 69% in April. The long-term average for this measure is 55.1%. There were 3.1 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of May, down from 3.3 months at the end of April and down more than a full month from the most recent peak at the end of January. The long-term average for this measure is about five months.