Home sales decreased by 1.7% between March and April, marking the second monthly decline in five months. On the supply side, new listings rose by 2.8% from March to April, the third increase in four months. Active listings surged by 5.8% in April after stabilizing the previous month, leading to an increase in the number of months of inventory from 3.9 in March to 4.2 in April. Despite these changes, market conditions loosened but remained tighter than historical averages in most provinces. Manitoba and B.C. experienced balanced market conditions, while Ontario saw softer conditions than average.
Housing starts remained relatively stable in April, edging down by 2,000 to 240,200 (seasonally adjusted and annualized), aligning with the median economist forecast of 240,000. Urban starts saw a slight decrease of 200 to 220,100, as a decline in the multi-family segment (down by 1,200 to 178,500) was nearly offset by an increase in the single-family segment (up by 900 to 41,700). Notable increases in starts occurred in Montreal (up by 4,000 to 13,900) and Calgary (up by 100 to 21,900), while Vancouver and Toronto experienced decreases of 7,100 to 34,600 and 5,000 to 37,000, respectively. Provincially, Alberta, Manitoba, and New Brunswick registered the most significant increases in total starts, while Québec and British Columbia saw notable decreases.
The Teranet-National Bank Composite National House Price Index™ remained stable from March to April after seasonal adjustments. Seven of the 11 markets in the composite index saw price increases: Edmonton (up by 2.3%), Montreal (up by 1.9%), Calgary (up by 1.9%), Ottawa-Gatineau (up by 0.5%), Vancouver (up by 0.4%), Hamilton (up by 0.4%), and Winnipeg (up by 0.3%). Conversely, declines were observed in Halifax (down by 0.7%), Toronto (down by 1.2%), Victoria (down by 1.9%), and Quebec City (down by 2.1%).
