Canadians Are Buying So Many Houses That July Broke Records For Sales Across The Country

Has staying at home because of the pandemic made people sick of where they live? Home sales in Canada actually broke records in July because Canadians were buying so many of them. This is a huge rebound!

The Canadian Real Estate Association released new statistics on August 17 about the state of the real estate market across the country in the mid-summer month.

It includes data on house sales and new listings that are on the rebound, both of which broke records.

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When it comes to home sales, the highest monthly number ever was recorded in July with an increase of 26%.

There were 62,355 transactions during the month which brought the sales to that record-breaking level.

The data goes back more than 40 years so this is pretty huge.

Across the country, transitions were up in July for the third month in a row.

In terms of the largest real estate markets in Canada, sales rose by 49.5% in the Greater Toronto Area. Greater Vancouver saw an increase of 43.9% while purchases rose by 39.1% in Montreal and 28.7% in Ottawa.

Calgary saw a 15.7% increase, Winnipeg, 12.1% and Quebec City, 5.4%.

New listings also had a great month and hit the highest level on record for that month.

Along with the surge in home sales, other parts of the real estate market saw growth in July.

Activity year over year at this time was up by 30.5% and the amount of newly listed properties rose by 7.6% from June to July.

However, some increases aren't always a good thing.

The MLS Home Price Index, which tracks changes in property prices over time, went up by 2.3% month over month in July and by 7.4% year over year.

With the summer season jump, it's the second-largest increase on record going back 15 years. The biggest was in March 2017.

Also, the national average sale price went up by 14.3% year over year.

"A big part of what we’re seeing right now is the snap back in activity that would have otherwise happened earlier this year," said Shaun Cathcart, a senior economist with the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Before COVID-19 really hit in Canada, the country was on the way to one of the highest spring markets so we're just getting back to that level now.

Some of the lowest housing numbers ever recorded happened in April.

Back in April, Royal LePage, a Canadian real estate company, forecasted what could happen to the market based on the course of the pandemic.

The forecast said if restrictions were going to be eased soon after its release, the aggregate house price in Canada could increase by 1% to $653,800 by the end of the year.

However, if those measures were to stay in place through the summer, aggregate prices could have gone down by 3% to $627,900.