Bad weather can’t put a dent in Canadian housing sales – Ask a Vancouver Mortgage Broker
Canadian Mortgage News
CMI 101 Series
Dreyer Group 101 Series
Financial FYI Series
First Time Buyers
Home Buying 101
Home Insurance
Latest News
Mortgage Rates
Refinancing
Retirement Planning
Self Employed
Spring came late for the Canadian residential real estate market but despite the delay the organization that represents the country’s realtors is still predicting a 1.2% jump in activity for 2014.
The Ottawa-based Canadian Real Estate Association is now saying there will be 463,400 sales this year in Canada, down slightly from the 463,700 in sales it was predicting in March.
“Extraordinarily bleak winter weather made for a slow start to 2014 national sales activity. As the first quarter ended, sales momentum heading into spring was constrained by a continuing shortage of listings in a number of local markets. The rise in newly listed properties in April and May supported an increase in sales activity,” CREA said in a release.
The group said it looks like interest rates will now rise until later in the year, which supports home ownership over the rest of 2014.
By next year sales will continue to climb, reaching 467,800 which amounts to a 0.9% and would be in line with the 10-year average for sales.
Prices will also continue to rise with the average sale price forecast at $404,300 for 2014, a 5.7% increase from a year earlier. By 2015, average sale prices are expected to rise 0.7% to $407,300.
Meanwhile May sales from CREA showed the strongest month over month increases in almost four years, rising 5.9% from April to May.
“The monthly increase in May activity was widespread among local housing markets, with some 80% of them reporting stronger sales compared to April,” said CREA president Beth Crosbie, in a statement. “Over the past 25 years, that widespread a monthly sales increase has been recorded only a handful of times.”
The actual national average price for homes sold in May 2014 was $416,584, up 7.1% from a year earlier.
