Brian Elston
Mortgage Broker
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1731 167 Street SW, Edmonton, Alberta
NBC Housing Market Monitor: Housing market lost its emerging momentum in July
8/28/2024
- Home sales edged down 0.7% between June and July, a decline that follows a 3.4% pick up in the previous month which was due to the beginning of easing monetary policy by the Bank of Canada.
- On the supply side, new listings edged up 0.9% from June to July, the sixth advance in seven months.
- Active listings edged down 0.7% in July from their highest level since March 2020, the first decrease in five months. Meanwhile, the number of months of inventory (active listings-to-sales) remained stable at 4.2 during the month, a level back in line with its pre-pandemic level.
- Market conditions were unchanged in July and remained tighter than their historical average in most provinces. They were balanced in Manitoba and B.C., and softer than average in Ontario.
- After a slowdown in June, housing starts increased 37.9K in July to 279.5K (seasonally adjusted and annualized), a result well above the median economist forecast calling for a 245.0K print and its highest level since June 2023. Urban starts increased by 38.8K (to 261.1K) on an important gain in the multi-family segment (+38.1K to 217.3K) while the single-family segment was up marginally (+0.7K to 43.8). Starts practically doubled in Toronto (+30.7K to 65.1K), and also grew in Vancouver (+9.6K to 30.1K) and Calgary (+6.6K to 29.1K). On the other hand, they dropped significantly in Montreal (-26.0K to 9.0K) to their lowest level since February 2015 (excluding April 2020).
- The Teranet–National Bank Composite National House Price Index remained virtually stable from June to July, with a marginal increase of 0.2% after adjustment for seasonal effects. Six of the 11 markets in the composite index were up over the month: Hamilton (+2.3%), Victoria (+1.0%), Halifax (+0.8%), Calgary (+0.7%), Toronto (+0.3%) and Quebec City (+0.2%). Conversely, prices fell in Ottawa-Gatineau (-0.4%), Winnipeg (-0.1%), Vancouver (-0.1%) and Montreal (-0.1%), while they remained stable in Edmonton.
