Dejan Ostojic

• Home sales in Canada edged up by 0.7% from March to April, the first increase in six months.
• New listings increased by 4.1% from March to April, following stabilization the previous month.
• Active listings increased by 2.7% in April, the third increase in four months.
• The number of months of inventory (active listings-to-sales ratio) edged up from 5.1 to 5.2 during the month, its highest level since April 2019 (excluding the pandemic).
• Market conditions loosened slightly in April but remained balanced at the national level, which largely reflects soft conditions in Ontario and B.C., while markets in all other provinces continue to favour sellers.
• Housing starts increased by 39.6K from 239.7K in March to 279.3K in April (seasonally adjusted and annualized), a print well above the consensus calling for 245.0K. This rebound was driven by a pickup in urban areas (+37.8K to 265.6K), while rural areas also edged higher (+1.8K to 13.7K). The increase in urban areas was concentrated in the multi-unit segment (+39.7K to 229.1K), while the single-detached segment edged lower (-2.0K to 36.5K). Housing starts rose sharply in Toronto (+19.1K to 37.4K) and Vancouver (+4.7K to 25.8K), while they declined in Calgary (-5.7K to 14.9K) and Montreal (-1.7K to 28.0K).
• The Teranet–National Bank Composite National House Price fell by 0.7% from March to April on a seasonally adjusted basis. Six of the eleven CMAs included in the index recorded declines during the month: Winnipeg (-2.3%), Calgary (-1.2%), Toronto (-1.1%), Vancouver (-0.7%), Montreal (-0.5%), and Hamilton (-0.3%). Conversely, prices rose in Halifax (+2.4%), Ottawa-Gatineau (+1.1%), Victoria (+0.4%), Edmonton (+0.1%), and Quebec City (+0.1%).

https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/taux-analyses/analyse-eco/logement/economic-news-resale-market.pdf