The Globe's Real Estate Beat offers news and analysis on the Canadian housing market from real estate reporter Tara Perkins. Read more on The Globe's housing page and follow Tara on Twitter @TaraPerkins.
May appears to have been a relatively strong month for Canadian housing sales, based on some preliminary data that's been released by local real estate boards.
Many banks had mortgage promotions during the month in an effort to lure home buyers off the sidelines as unusually frigid weather kept activity down in the early months of the year.
The Canadian Real Estate Association will report national statistics on June 16. In the meantime, here's a look at what's happening in some of the markets that have already released information for the month of May. The numbers are based on homes that sold over the Multiple Listing Service.
Edmonton
-1,979 homes sold, up 6.5 per cent from a year earlier and up 7.8 per cent from April.
-Listings were up 9.4 per cent from a year earlier, and 13.8 per cent from the prior month.
-Homes were on the market for an average of 41 days before selling.
-The average price was $371,871, up 4.6 per cent from a year earlier and 1.6 per cent from April.
-The average price of a detached home was $438,279, up 5.1 per cent from a year earlier and 2.2 per cent from April.
-The average price of a condo was $251,688, up 6.7 per cent from a year earlier but down 0.1 per cent from April.
Toronto
-11,079 homes sold. That’s up 11.4 per cent from a year earlier, and compares to 9,706 sales in April. The number set a record for the month of May.
-The number of new listings was down 0.8 per cent from a year earlier, and the number of active listings was down 8.8 per cent. Constrained supply of detached homes is an issue.
-Homes were on the market for an average of 21 days before selling, down from 23 a year earlier.
-The average selling price was $585,204. That’s up 8.3 per cent from $540,544 a year earlier. (The average price in 2004, a decade ago, was $315,231).
-The average selling price of a detached home in the downtown area covered by the 416 area code was $943,055. That’s up 9.2 per cent from a year earlier, but is down from $965,670 in April.
-The average selling price of a condo in the same downtown area was $401,809. That’s up 7.6 per cent from a year earlier, and up from $384,758 in April.
-12 condos and 155 detached houses sold for more than $2-million apiece.
Calgary
-2,948 homes sold in the city. That’s up 16 per cent from a year ago, and set a record for the month of May.
-Homes are being snapped up faster. The average number of days a home was on the market before selling was 27 last month, down from 32 a year earlier.
-New listings are up by 16.51 per cent over last year but active listings are down by 5.04 per cent.
-The average selling price of a home in the city was $486,531, up 5.44 per cent from $461,422 a year earlier.
-The average selling price of a single family home in the city was $554,652, up 6.3 per cent, while the average price of a condo was $315,953, up 1.89 per cent.
-Sales of single family homes in the city were up 15 per cent, while sales of condos were up 24 per cent.
Vancouver
-3,286 homes sold, up 14 per cent from a year earlier and 7.7 per cent from April.
-While sales are up, and the market is stronger than it has been since 2011, sales are still 6.5 per cent below the 10-year sales average for May. Vancouver was hardest-hit among Canada’s major cities during the sales slump that occurred from mid-2012 to mid-2013.
-Sales of detached houses were up 19 per cent; sales of apartment-style homes were up 13.2 per cent.
-The benchmark price (an index the city’s real estate board uses to represent the price of a typical property) was $624,000, up 4.3 per cent from a year earlier.
-The benchmark price of a detached house was $966,500, up 5.4 per cent from a year earlier, while the benchmark price of an apartment-style property was $377,500, up 3.2 per cent.
Ottawa
-1,792 homes sold, down 0.3 per cent from a year earlier but up 26.2 per cent from April.
-The average sales price was $381,172, up 3.2 per cent from a year earlier.
-The average sales price of a condo was $280,661 and the average sales price of other residential properties was $401,626.