Canadian housing sales have surged in the early summer, suggesting that the national real estate market may be on the mend, says a new report from RE/MAX.
As a result of a sizzling month of sales in June, Canada's two largest real estate markets -- Toronto and Vancouver -- came close to breaking their all-time sales records.
In Toronto, the nearly 11,000 properties sold last month marked a 27 per cent sales increase over the previous June. And in Vancouver, where 4,259 units changed hands last month, sales were up 75.6 per cent from 12 months ago.
Major year-over-year gains were also seen in Calgary (28 per cent), Regina (24 per cent), Edmonton (15.8 per cent) and Ottawa (12.5 per cent). Sales were also up 5.2 per cent in the Halifax-Dartmouth area over the previous June and had inched up 0.8 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador.
According to RE/MAX, most of Canada's major real estate markets had begun to recover from the recession as early as March, with sales picking further up in April and May, leading to the high levels of sales seen in June.
Michael Polzler, the executive vice-president of RE/MAX Ontario-Atlantic Canada, says the boom in sales is the result of affordable prices and mortgages, as well as pent-up demand among homebuyers.
It's a trend that could also help the wider economy, he said, because it will spur homeowners to spend on home improvements.
"When people start buying houses, they have to buy all the things that go along with those houses," Polzler told CTV's Canada AM on Monday morning. "Often it means a new fridge, a new carpet, painting, fixing up this, fixing up that. Even when you buy a new house, there's a lot of things to buy. So, it helps everybody connected."
Looking forward to the rest of the year, RE/MAX is expecting to see a more stable real estate market, though sales may not continue at the current pace.
Polzler believes that many Canadians favour real estate as a form of investment, as opposed to putting their money in private business opportunities.
"Most Canadians are very uncomfortable and unsure about the stock market," he said. "And when you see that through these difficult times, prices in real estate have come down a little bit in most places -- and in many cases are back up -- they feel a lot more control than they do in the stock market."
