Housing sales plunge in Toronto and Vancouver

May 17, 2022

Canada’s two hottest housing markets—which have dictated headlines and government response to the residential market over the last two years—saw home sales crash in April 2022.
Sales in Toronto plunged 41 per cent in April from the same month last year, and were down a stunning 27 per cent from March, reports the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB).
In Greater Vancouver, home transactions were down 34 per cent compared to April 2021 and 25 per cent lower than in March 2022, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
TRREB said April 2022 sales amounted to 8,008 across the region—down from 13,613 in April 2021 and 10,939 in March 2022.
“It certainly appears that the Bank of Canada is achieving its goal of slowing consumer spending as it fights high inflation," TRREB president Kevin Crigger said in a release.
The year-over-year decline in sales was greatest in the area surrounding Toronto and was particularly apparent in the detached housing category, TRREB stated.
Average home prices also dropped in April, a sharp contrast from month-over-month increases seen since spring 2020.
April's average home price for Greater Toronto, at $1.2 million, was down $100,000 from a month earlier.
"It is anticipated that there will be enough competition between buyers to support continued price growth relative to 2021, but the annual pace of growth will moderate in the coming months," said Jason Mercer, TRREB's chief market analyst, in a release.
In Greater Vancouver, however, the benchmark home price increased for the 3,232 home sales in April.
Prices remained steady from March, inching up by about 1 per cent. The benchmark price for a detached home in the region is $2,139,200, while it is $1,150,500 for a townhouse and $844,700 for a condo.
Some say home prices will fall across the country at least during the short term.
“Interest rates are on the rise, and the ultra rate-sensitive Canadian housing market is responding. Sales are falling fast and prices will follow,” CIBC economists Benjamin Tal and Katherine Judge said in a report referring to Canada as a whole.
“The return to balanced conditions or even a buyers’ market will not cure what ails the Canadian housing market. It will just ease the symptoms for a short period of time. In fact, if history is a guide, the slowing ahead might worsen the supply-demand mismatch in the market.”