Canadian Existing Home Sales (January 2018)
Michael Dolega
other
- Canadian existing home sales slumped 14.5% m/m in January, ending a five month streak of increases and erasing all the gains seen during this time.
- Only five of the twenty-six main markets experienced increases, with the group consisting of: Newfoundland & Labrador, Saguenay, Gatineau, Sudbury and Regina. On the other hand, fifteen markets experienced double digit percent declines. Ottawa (-32.6%), GTA (-26.6%) and Hamilton (-31.7%) led the pull-back with sharp declines also seen across the rest of the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH). Most B.C. markets also experienced significant decreases with Victoria (-17.1%), Fraser Valley (-14.8%) and GVA (-10.5%). Alberta and Manitoba markets also dipped lower, with Calgary (-15.3%), Edmonton (-14.9%) and Winnipeg (-10.8%) all down in double digits. Remaining Canadian markets were moderately lower.
- New listings were not to be outdone, slumping an even greater 21.6% nationally. Ontario and B.C. markets led the pullback with London (-44.8%), GTA (-39.3%), Fraser Valley (-38.8%) and GVA (-33.0%) topping the list. Only four markets experienced an uptick in listings – mostly markets that have also experienced an increase in sales.
- The outsized decline in listings led to a tightening of market conditions, with the sales to listings ratio up 5.3 points to 63.6% nationally. Most acute tightening was experienced in several GGH markets. The ratio surged in Kitchener-Waterloo (up 32.3 to 102.8%) and London (up 23.2 to 94.6%), with the GTA also up a healthy 9.7pp to 45.7%. Fraser Valley (up 26.3 to 93.6%) and GVA (up 19 to 75.7%) also tightened up sharply.
- The average home price declined 2.4% m/m, buckling the five month trend. It was a mixed bag across markets, half the provinces experiencing declines led by N.S. (-3.9%) while P.E.I. (+9.8%) and N.B. (+6.1%) lead the gains. Prices ticked down by 1.6% in Ontario and B.C. with values 4.2% lower in the GVA, while GTA prices were slightly softer, down 0.9%.
- The price decline was entirely due to the change in composition of properties sold, with GTA and GVA sales accounting for just 23.4% of national sales – down from 25.8% in the previous month. After seasonal adjustment, the national HPI rose 0.5%, with gains of 1.1% and 0.4% for GVA and GTA. On a year-over-year basis the national index decelerated from 9.2% to 7.7%. The trend was mirrored by the GTA HPI, which slowed to 5.3% from 7.3%, while the GVA HPI accelerated from 16% to 16.8%.
Key Implications
- This morning’s report was a highly anticipated one as it gave us a glimpse of how the implementation of updated B20 rules impacted the Canadian housing market and how the market is faring in light of higher interest rates.
- On the whole, the numbers confirmed our expectations that B20 rules would pull-forward activity into late-2017, with sales slumping in January on the give-back. The pull-forward was further corroborated by the dynamics of new listings, which also increased ahead of the new rules, before properties being pulled-off. While it is too early to precisely estimate how much of the rise in late-2017 is related to the pull-forward, the report suggests that this dynamic accounted for much of it.
- The notion that pull-forward was central to the rise in late-2017 is further confirmed by the regional dynamics. The give-back was most apparent in Ontario and (to a lesser extent) B.C. – the two markets most affected by the B20 rules owing to their high prices and relatively large share of federally-regulated lending (particularly in Ontario).
- We expect some near-term volatility to persist in the market, as the fallout from the new rules and rising rates is absorbed by buyers and sellers, before some stabilization by mid-year. Thereafter we expect activity to remain weighed down by rising interest rates, but with markets largely in balanced territory prices should remain well supported. For our detailed forecast please click here.