Real estate markets finding “balance”?

Residential property listings set another monthly record

A surge of new listings combined with a sharp decrease in sales for British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan’s housing sector this spring, creating some of the most balanced real estate markets in the country.

The number of residential properties listed with real estate boards across the country rose an average of 1.8 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis to 78,878 units in May 2008, setting a second consecutive monthly record for this year, according to statistics released by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Seasonally adjusted sales activity on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), meanwhile, edged lower by 1.2 per cent month-over-month to 38,133 units this past May.

It was partly due to fewer transactions in B.C., Saskatchewan and Alberta.

That was slightly offset by a monthly rise in activity in Ontario, which resulted from record sales in Ottawa and a rebound in Toronto’s numbers, according to CREA officials.

Toronto’s sales continued a steady decline on a month-over-month basis when compared with a record year in 2007, but average prices were still up, figures from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) show.

The city’s resale housing market recorded 9,411 transactions in May, a 16-per-cent decrease over the same month last year, when a record 11,146 properties were sold. It was up, however, from the 8,762 units sold the month before in April, which was a seven-per-cent decrease in the sales reported in April 2007.

Toronto real estate agents sold 8,600 properties in June, which was an 18-per-cent decrease from the June 2007 total of 10,451 units.

A press release from the CREA noted there was also a 22-per-cent increase in listings with 26,698 properties going on the market in June compared with 21,789 during the same period in 2007.

Members of the Winnipeg Realtors Association were popping champagne corks at the end of May and June after posting their highest dollar volume in the organization’s 105-year history. Agents sold $319.7 million in properties during May and $317 million during June.

Winnipeg’s average residential detached sale price in May was $221,431, an increase of 13.7 per cent over the average closing price of $194,728 recorded in May 2007.

Saskatoon’s housing market stabilized during May with 1,015 properties being put up for sale, compared with 706 properties available during the same month a year ago in May 2007, according to the Saskatoon Real Estate Board.

That was offset by 367 homes valued at a total of just over $110 million sold during May, board officials said. It was down 18 per cent over May 2007, when more than $135 million worth of real estate was sold.

The average selling price of a residential single-family dwelling in May was $301,527, a bargain compared with Calgary’s average for the same month of $479,564 and Edmonton coming in at $383,167.

MLS numbers from the Calgary Real Estate Board were down in almost all categories. Board data showed June listings of single-family dwellings fell 18.8 per cent over the previous month to 2,787 units. Sales were also down in Calgary 18.1 per cent to 1,439 compared with the same month in 2007. They edged up slightly 5.2 per cent from the previous month’s total of 1,368. The average price of a single-family home in Calgary was $473,774 in June, down 4.7 per cent from the same month in 2007, with an average price of $496,890. Prices in May didn’t fare that much better, with an average of $479,564 for a 1.6-per-cent drop from $487,523 in May 2007.

That balancing act between increased new listings and lower sales was particularly evident in Vancouver, however, when the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board released its statistics for May. The number of residential property sales in the city declined 30.7 per cent to 3,002 in May 2008, compared with the 4,331 units that were sold during the same period in 2007. New listings for attached, detached and apartment properties, however, were up 20.2 per cent to 7,390 in May 2008, compared with 6,149 in May 2007. Sales of detached properties in May 2008 dropped 33.4 per cent to 1,244, compared with the 1,805 sales recorded during the same period in Vancouver during 2007.