The spring home buying season never really blossomed this year.
May figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association suggest buyers and sellers have been taking a “wait and see” stance.
Sales in May dipped 0.6% from April and are down 5.9% from a year earlier. Prices dropped 4.0% year-over-year leaving the national average home price at $699,000.
CREA’s preferred measure, the National Composite MLS Home Price Index, came in 2.4% below May 2023.
The number of new listings was also flat with an increase of just 0.5%. However, inventories are at a five-year high.
CREA used the words “sleepy” and “uneventful” to describe the month and speculated that buyers and sellers were waiting for the Bank of Canada to implement interest rate cuts. That cut did come on June 5th and the realtors are hopeful it will stimulate renewed activity.
A recent survey of home buying intentions by the real estate website Wahi suggests that while high rates may be keeping buyers out of the market they are not driving sales. Just 11% of respondents who said they will be selling within the next five years are doing so because of financial strain.
The key reason people plan to put their homes on the market is size.
Thirty-seven percent said they want to downsize and 25% said they are looking for a bigger place. Of those looking for a smaller home nearly 70% are more than 54 years old. On the other side, 94% of those looking to upsize are between 18 and 54 years old.
Published by First National Financial LP