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The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a record 12,560 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in March, up 38 per cent from March of last year. Home sales last month eclipsed the previous record of 11,683 unit sales in May of 2007. Total sales dollar volume was $9.69 billion in March, up 66.9 per cent compared to the previous year. The average MLS® residential price in the province was up 20.2 per cent year-over-year, to $771,620.


“Housing demand has never been stronger in the province,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “Most large population centres of the province are now experiencing record levels of housing demand.”


“Strong employment growth, rising wages and a marked increase in net inter-provincial migration is fueling consumer confidence,” added Muir.


Supply imbalances are becoming increasingly common as new residential listings are not keeping pace with consumer demand. As a result, the inventory of homes for sale is at decadelong lows in many regions.


The year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume increased 70.1 per cent to $21.59 billion, when compared with the same period in 2015. Residential unit sales climbed by 39.2 per cent to 28,028 units, while the average MLS® residential price was up 22.2 per cent to $770,408.

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The trend measure of housing starts in Canada was 196,783 units in March compared to 201,618 in February, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.


“Overall, starts were trending lower in March due to a slowdown in multi-unit construction,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC Chief Economist. “This was the case across the country, except in British Columbia  where declining inventories of new and unsold units as well as low levels of new listings in the resale market spurred builders to start new projects.”


CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of Canada’s housing market. In some situations analyzing only SAAR data can be misleading, as they are largely driven by the multi-unit segment of the market which can vary significantly from one month to the next.


The standalone monthly SAAR for all areas in Canada was 204,251 units in March, down from 219,077 units in February. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 7.0 per cent in March to 185,022 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 9.7 per cent to 123,207 units in March and the single-detached urban starts decreased by 1.1 per cent to 61,815 units.


In March, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts decreased in British Columbia, Québec, Atlantic Canada and the Prairies, but increased in Ontario.


Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 19,299 units.

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The topic of foreign ownership in Canada’s housing markets continues to gain in importance and attention. In line with its commitment to sharing insightful information as it becomes available, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released today its latest Housing Market Insights (HMI) report on this topic.


The report looks at the share of foreign ownership by the age of structure and is meant to be read in tandem with CMHC’s fall 2015 HMI report on Foreign Ownership. Findings reveal that share of foreign ownership is most prominent in new condominium apartment structures in Toronto and to a lesser extent in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs). The share of foreign ownership is most prominent in the newer structures in Toronto Centre.


Report Highlights


• In the Toronto CMA, the share of foreign ownership is less than 2% for buildings completed before 1990 and 7% for newer constructions completed since 2010. This effect is even more pronounced in Toronto Centre where about 10% of the newer stock is owned by foreigners.
• In the Vancouver CMA, foreign buyers’ share rises from less than 2% for properties built before 1990 to about 6% for those completed since 2010.


At this time, no existing tool can provide a definitive measure of the level of foreign investment in Canada’s housing markets. That said, CMHC regularly engages in discussions internally, as well as with industry experts, as part of its continued efforts to develop a program of work that would better capture data on foreign buyers

 

“The really interesting thing about this report is the insight it provides into foreign ownership of condominiums in Canada by age of structure. For example, in the downtown core of Toronto, we know that, in buildings completed since 2010, about 10 per cent of those units are owned by foreign buyers. This compares to about 2.3 percent for units completed during the 1990s. This represented another piece in the puzzle of foreign investment in Canada. It remains a top priority for CMHC to continue to get more information on foreign investment in Canada’s Housing market.” Bob Dugan, Chief Economist, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

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Condominium investors in Vancouver and Toronto display stable characteristics over time. Most are  small-scale investors that own only one secondary unit, nearly onehalf purchased their last secondary unit for rental income and most expect to own their investment property for more than five years, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) 2015 Condominium Owners Survey (COS) released today. 


The annual report, focused on the Vancouver and Toronto Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs), includes survey insights on what motivates condo purchases, how long owners hold onto their units, and the mortgage-financing profile of condominium owners whose primary dwelling is a freehold or condominium unit but who also own at least one secondary condominium unit. These households are referred to in the report as COS investors.


Report Highlights:


• Results are very stable over surveys.
• Nearly one-half of COS investors purchased their last secondary unit for rental income.
• About 60% plan to hold onto their last purchases unit for more than 5 years versus 8% planning to sell their unit in less than 2 years.
• Nearly three quarters have only one unit and roughly 90% do not plan on buying new units in year following the survey.
• 56% expect their units to appreciate, 35% do not expect a significant change and 5% anticipate a decrease in value.
• The share of COS investors with a mortgage on their last purchased unit (at the time of the survey) stood at 53 per cent. This is slightly below the share reported for all home owners (59 per cent) in Statistics Canada’s 2011 National Household Survey.
• The surveys of Toronto and Vancouver produced similar results. However, a larger share of respondents in Toronto expect the value of their units to increase than in Vancouver, but the gap is closing.


COS investors, as defined by CMHC, exclude households that own only one condominium unit in which they reside, as well as households that own a secondary unit but rent their primary residence.

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Metro Vancouver* home sales eclipsed 5,000 in March for the first time on record.


Residential property sales in the region totalled 5,173 in March 2016, an increase of 27.4 per cent from the 4,060 sales recorded in March 2015 and an increase of 24 per cent compared to February 2016 when 4,172 homes sold.


Last month’s sales were 56 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month. "March was the highest selling month the REBGV has ever recorded,” Dan Morrison, REBGV president said. “Today's demand is broad based. Home buyers are active in neighbourhoods across our region."


New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver totalled 6,278 in March 2016. This represents an increase of 5.2 per cent compared to the 5,968 units listed in March 2015 and an 8 per cent increase compared to February 2016 when 5,812 properties were listed.


The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS® system in Metro Vancouver is 7,358, a 40.5 per cent decline compared to March 2015 (12,376) and a 0.8 per cent increase compared to February 2016 (7,299).


“Strong job and economic growth in our province, positive net migration and low interest rates are helping to drive this activity," Morrison said.


The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $815,000. This represents a 23.2 per cent increase compared to March 2015.


Sales of detached properties in March 2016 reached 2,135, an increase of 24.8 per cent from the 1,711 detached sales recorded in March 2015. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 27.4 per cent from March 2015 to $1,342,500.


Sales of apartment properties reached 2,252 in March 2016, an increase of 38.4 per cent compared to the 1,627 sales in March 2015.The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 18.8 per cent from March 2015 to $462,800.


Attached property sales in March 2016 totalled 786, an increase of 8.9 per cent compared to the 722 sales in March 2015. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 20.1 per cent from March 2015 to $589,100.

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