MNI DATA REACT: Canada April Home Sales -57% MOM, Prices -11%

By Greg Quinn

     OTTAWA (MNI) - Canadian home sales fell a record 57% in April with showings

upended by the coronavirus pandemic, and prices that had shown resiliency

through a long boom also dropped an unprecedented 11% on the month.

     New listings plunged by more than half as health restrictions kept people

from gathering, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Friday from Ottawa. 

     The Covid-19 pandemic adds a new problem to Vancouver and Toronto housing

markets that were a chief risk to the financial system through a decade-long

boom. BOC officials said Thursday mortgage arrears may climb when regulations

allowing six months of mortgage forbearance end, and the federal housing agency

that handles most mortgage insurance has suspended regular financial

projections.  

     Toronto home sales fell 66% in April and the average sales price dropped

12%. In Vancouver sales declined 58%, and prices fell 6.2%. Prices in both

cities were little changed from a year earlier.

     --SLOW RESTART

     "We're not going to just 'turn the lights back on' and return to a

pre-pandemic market overnight," Bank of Montreal senior economist Robert Kavcic

wrote in a research note. 

     The realtor group's adjusted sales price index that smooths out comparisons

for transactions on similar types of homes fell 0.6% in March. 

     CREA economist Shaun Cathcart said in a report that while preliminary

figures suggest a sales pickup in May as brokers shift to online showings, such

tools "will likely remain key for some time."

--MNI Ottawa Bureau; +1 613-314-9647; email: greg.quinn@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MACDS$,M$C$$$]