Canadian housing inventory is very tight
- Prior was +7.2%
- Prices up 13.5% y/y in January
- Sales up 35.2% y/y
- Sales-to-new listings 90.7% -- highest on record by a significant margin. Old record was 81.5% in 2002.
The Canadian housing market is out of control. It's not just in Toronto and Vancouver like a few years ago, it's everywhere.
"The problem with this time of year is that the buyers and sellers that will in time define the Canadian housing story of 2021 are mostly all still waiting in the wings," said Shaun Cathcart, CREA's Senior Economist. "It's the dead of winter and we're only just starting to get the second wave of COVID under control. We're unlikely to see a rush of listings until the weather and public heath situations improve, and we won't see buyers until those homes come up for sale. The best case scenario would be if we see a lot of sellers who were gun-shy to engage in the market last year making a move this year. A big surge in supply is what so many markets really need this year to get people into the homes they want, and to keep prices from accelerating any more than they already are."
