Home sales declined from May to June by 0.9 per cent, but in June 2016 were up 5.2 per cent from the year before, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
The average price of a home that was sold in June was $503,301. One wonders how people pay for them when government statistics from 2014 show the median family income in Canada was $78,870. Often both parents in a family work to provide that income.
Vancouver market gone crazy
Housing prices have gone crazy in Vancouver and there is great controversy over reports that foreign investors are buying property there as a safe place to park their money. Real estate agents too have driven up prices by arranging sales at lower-than-market value and then re-selling them for a higher price before the paperwork is done. Various measures are being considered to try to cope with the problem.
Prices are also very high in Toronto. If you leave out those two cities, the average price of a home in June was $347,760, up 8.4 per sent from last year.
Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz has warned that house price increases in Vancouver and Toronto are likely unsustainable.
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