Canada Home Sales, Listings Plunge in March With More Pain Seen

(Bloomberg) -- Home sales and listings tumbled in Canada in March as measures to slow the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the market.

“Canadian home sales and listings were increasing heading into what was expected to be a busy spring for Canadian realtors,” Jason Stephen, president of the Canadian Real Estate Association, said Wednesday in a statement. “After Friday the 13th, everything went sideways.”

National home sales fell about 14% in March from February with the number of transactions declining in most markets, CREA said. Calgary sales slumped 26% to lead the drop among major cities, while Greater Toronto saw a near 21% decline, Ottawa fell 7.9% and Greater Vancouver slipped 2.9%. Sales activity across the country was 7.8% above a quiet March a year ago, though well below the year-over-year gain of close to 30% in February.

Non-seasonally adjusted prices were up about 13% from the same month a year ago, gaining momentum from the first half of the month.

The number of newly listed homes declined by almost 13% in March compared with February, CREA said. With both buyers and sellers holding tight, the national sales-to-new listing ratio at 64% was “remarkably little changed” considering the extent of the shutdowns.

Early April numbers suggest things will get worse.

“Preliminary data from the first week of April suggest both sales and new listings were only about half of what would be normal for that time of year,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s senior economist.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.