Home sales in Canada’s two biggest markets fell in June from May as higher interest rates begin to cool demand.
The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said that home sales fell 41% in June from a year ago as 6,474 properties were sold. Total sales declined 11% between May and June of this year.
All property types in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) incurred double-digit sales declines, including a 31% drop for detached homes and a 44% decrease for townhouses.
Home prices in the GTA also continue to fall, with the average selling price in June declining 5.5% to $1,146,254, the fourth straight monthly decrease.
The numbers signal a continued cooling in the Toronto market from 2020 and the beginning of 2021 when home sales and prices were setting records.
Higher interest rates are making mortgages more expensive and dissuading consumers from making a house purchase, said the Toronto real estate board.
Vancouver Sales
At the same time, home sales in Greater Vancouver, Canada’s second biggest housing market, fell 35% from last June and dropped 16% from May of this year as houses remained on the market longer than usual.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said there were 2,444 home sales in the region in June, down from 3,762 during the same month last year and 2,918 homes that were sold in May of this year.
The board said that the June sales drop, which was 23% below the 10-year June sales average, was due to mortgage rates that have increased in tandem with higher interest rates. The board added that the heated market conditions of the last two years are now beginning to cool.
Vancouver logged 5,256 new home sale listings last month, a 10% drop from 5,849 in June 2021, and an 18% decrease from 6,377 in May of this year.
The average home price in Vancouver was $1.2 million last month, a 12.4% increase from June 2021, but a 2% decrease compared to May 2022.
