Ontario home prices were stable in May, continuing a trend set in February that ended a five-month fall that began last summer, figures released by the Canadian Real Estate Association Monday show.
On a year-over-year basis, the average single-family home in the province sold for $951,600 in May, down 3.8 per cent from the average of $989,300 they sold for in May of 2023.
The numbers are seasonally adjusted and do not take inflation into account.
Inflation, depending on what measure you choose, is running at between 3.4 and 3.7 per cent.
“May was another sleepy month for housing activity in Canada, although it may prove to be the last of those now that interest rates have moved lower,” CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart said in a release.
“The Bank of Canada’s June 5 rate cut may have only been 25 basis points, but the psychological effect for many who have been sitting on the sidelines was no doubt huge. The question now turns to further rate cuts – specifically, how fast, and how far?”
On a province-wide basis, prices for condos in a year-over-year comparison fell 3.4 per cent, and townhouses fell 2.2 per cent.
“The spring housing market usually starts before all the snow has melted, somewhere around the beginning of April, but this year I believe a lot of people were waiting for the Bank of Canada to wave the green flag,” CREA chair James Mabey said in a release.
“That first rate cut is expected to bring some pent-up demand back into the market, and those buyers will find there are more homes to choose from right now than at any other point in almost five years."
Within Ontario, sales in the north continued to show much stronger growth than those elsewhere in the province - single-family homes in the Soo were up 6.3 per cent year-over-year, and those in Sudbury were up 5.7 per cent.
Locally in May in the Lakelands real estate area, which takes in Midland, Collingwood and Orillia, single-family house prices were up 0.3 per cent – more or less unchanged – condos were up 3.2 per cent, and townhouses were down 1.4 per cent compared to May of 2023, using seasonally adjusted numbers unadjusted for inflation.
In the Simcoe County area, single-family house prices were down 0.9 per cent, condos were down six per cent, and townhouses were up 0.8 per cent compared to May of 2023, using seasonally adjusted numbers unadjusted for inflation.
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