Home sales across Canada fell in June by their largest amount in seven years, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Monday.
The association says sales for June were down 6.7 per cent compared with May on a national basis, with 70 per cent of all local markets posting declines during what is normally the most popular time of the year for real estate.
Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was down 11.4 per cent compared to the same time last year, led overwhelmingly by a significant drop in sales activity in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the CREA report said.
With sales having also declined in April and May, activity in June came in 14.1 per cent below the record set in March.
“Changes to Ontario housing policy made in late April have clearly prompted many home buyers in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region to take a step back and assess how the housing market absorbs the changes,” CREA chief economist Gregory Klump said in a statement. “The recent increase in interest rates could reinforce a lack of urgency to purchase or, alternatively, move some buyers off the sidelines before their pre-approved mortgage rate expires.”
The actual national average price for homes sold in June 2017 was $504,458, up just 0.4 per cent from where it stood one year earlier.
The national average price continues to be pulled upward by sales activity in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, which are two of Canada’s most active and expensive housing markets, the report said.
Excluding these two markets the national average price stood at $394,660.
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