Canada’s largest housing market came roaring back to life in May.
There were 4,606 property sales across the Greater Toronto Area in May, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB). While that was less than half the number of sales registered a year earlier, it was a 53.2% increase from April when the COVID-19 pandemic brought sales to a screeching halt.
Despite the improvement in May, there is still a long way to go for the Toronto market to recover. May sales were still well below the 7,256 sales registered in Toronto during February before the pandemic shut down activity.
The average selling price for all homes sold across the Greater Toronto Area in May was $863,599, representing modest growth on both a month-over-month and year-over-year basis.
Home sales in the Greater Vancouver Area also rose sharply in May from April.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said that home sales totaled 1,485 in May, a 44% decrease from May 2019 and 54% below the 10-year average for the month. However, the May sales were a sharp increase from 1,109 home sales in April.
Home prices in the Greater Vancouver area have remained steady despite the drop in demand that has been triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The real estate board said the average price for residential properties in Metro Vancouver was $1.03 million, virtually unchanged from April and up 2.9% compared with May 2019.
