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<\/a>Photo: James Bombales<\/em><\/p>\nThe Canadian housing market has cooled from last year’s record breaking highs, but low inventory is keeping prices high across the country.<\/p>\n
Last year the Canadian housing market shattered its all-time sales record, posting the highest number of sales in history<\/a>. A year later, activity has mellowed from 2020\u2019s record-breaking summer, but prices are still climbing because fewer people are putting their properties on the market.<\/p>\n In its monthly National Statistics report<\/a>, the Canadian Real Estate Association said home sales have continued to slow down from March, arguably the market peak of 2021 so far.<\/p>\n\n \u201cWhile the moderation of sales activity continues to capture most of the headlines these days, it\u2019s record-low inventories that should be our focus,\u201d Cliff Stevenson, Chair of CREA, stated in July\u2019s market report. He noted there are \u201cextremely unbalanced housing markets all over the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we\u2019ve learned about the Canadian housing market from CREA\u2019s July 2021 statistics.<\/p>\n July\u2019s home sales failed to break their 2020 record, with actual (not seasonally-adjusted) sales dropping 15.2 per cent yearly. Still, last month ranked as the second-best month of July on record, says CREA.<\/p>\n National home sales declined 3.5 per cent from June to July, the smallest of four consecutive declines observed since March. From March\u2019s market peak, sales have now fallen a cumulative 28 per cent, but activity is said to still be \u201chistorically quite active,\u201d according to CREA.<\/p>\n The drop in monthly home sales was not equal across the board in July. Sales were still down in roughly two-thirds of local markets last month, but declines were led by Calgary and Edmonton.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no surprise that we\u2019ve been seeing a market slowdown since March, Shaun Cathcart, CREA\u2019s Senior Economist, said in the report. The slowdown in sales isn\u2019t necessarily a sign that things are starting to look a bit more normal.<\/p>\n \u201c[We] are not returning to normal, we are only returning to where we were before COVID, which was a far cry from normal,\u201d said Cathcart. \u201cThe problem of high housing demand amid low supply has not gone anywhere \u2013 it\u2019s arguably worse.\u201d<\/p>\nSales are plummeting<\/h2>\n
High demand versus low supply problem is worsening<\/h2>\n