Canadian existing home sales bounced back from what was a pretty chilly winter, rising by 4.1% in March 2015, leaving them 9.5% above year ago levels. Most markets across Canada recorded double-digit annual gains in home sales in March.
The increase in existing home sales was met by a lesser increase in listings, with the Canadian housing market tightening further in March. The sales-to-listings ratio rose to 53.9, from 52.7 in the prior month. The number of months of inventory fell to 6.1, from 6.3 months in Feb. The tightening in the market pushed the average sales price up 9.4% year-over-year, accelerating sharply from the 6.3% gain recorded in Feb.
"Due to the drop in mortgage interest rates since January, the Canadian housing market continued to outperform other areas of the economy in the first quarter of 2015. While today's Bank of Canada's rate announcement suggested that further stimulus is unlikely, the already low interest rate environment is likely to continue to bolster demand in most markets across the country.
Annual home price growth is likely to top our initial estimate of 2% in 2015, and should clock in at above 4% - leading to yet another year in which home prices outstrip household incomes." - said TD Economics in a report on Wednesday
