Summary

• Home sales edged down 0.6% between April and May, a fourth consecutive monthly decline.
• On the supply side, new listings increased 0.5% from April to May, the fourth advance in five months.
• Active listings rose by 4.2% in May, the second consecutive month of growth and the highest level since March 2020. Meanwhile, the number of months of inventory (active listings-to-sales) increased from 4.2 in April to 4.4 in May, a level now back in line with its pre-pandemic level.
• Market conditions loosened during the month but remained tighter than their historical average in most provinces. They were balanced in Manitoba and B.C., and softer than average in Ontario.
• Housing starts jumped 23.4K in May to 264.5K (seasonally adjusted and annualized), a result well above the median economist forecast calling for a 245.1K print. Urban starts increased by 24.7K (to 246.1K) withs gains in both the multi-family segment (+24.0K to 203.1K) and the single-family segment (+0.8K to 43.0K). Starts increased in Montreal (+14.4K to 28.3K), Toronto (+17.3K to 54.3K), and Calgary (+1.4K to 23.4K), while they decreased in Vancouver (-11.1K to 23.5K). At the provincial level, the most pronounced increases in total starts were registered in Québec (+19.4K to 59.6K), Ontario (+12.4K to 86.3K), and New Brunswick (+3.5K to 7.0K). Meanwhile, notable decreases were seen in British Columbia (-8.4K to 46.5K) and Manitoba (-4.8K to 3.5K).
• The Teranet-National Bank Composite National House Price Index rose by 0.5% from April to May, after seasonal adjustments. Seven of the 11 markets in the composite index were up during the month: Halifax (+1.5%), Hamilton (+1.1%), Calgary (+1.0%), Vancouver (+1.0%), Victoria (+0.8%), Toronto (+0.5%) and Quebec City (+0.5%). Conversely, prices fell in Edmonton (0.7%), Winnipeg (-0.6%) and Ottawa-Gatineau (-0.2%), while they remained stable in Montreal.

https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/taux-analyses/analyse-eco/logement/economic-news-resale-market.pdf