Hints of Active Spring Market in March Housing Data: CREA

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) recently released national sales statistics for March 2024.

While there are expectations the Canadian housing market will pick up on some level this year, home sales and prices were mostly unchanged on a month-over-month basis in March 2024, according to the latest data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Home sales activity recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems edged up 0.5% between February and March 2024, holding around 10% below the average of the last 10 years.

“We’ll have to wait for the April data to really understand how buyers are responding to all these new properties for sale, but if you look at last spring as a guide and add to that record population growth in the last year and a central bank that is far more likely to cut this summer than raise like it did last year, it could get interesting,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Senior Economist. “Will the story be high interest rates keeping a lot of people on the sidelines this year, or the much expected and anticipated first rate cuts enticing a lot of people back into the market? Probably a bit of both.”

Highlights of this report:

• National home sales edged up 0.5% month-over-month in March.

• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 1.7% above March 2023.

• The number of newly listed properties declined 1.6% month-over-month.

• The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) dipped 0.3% month-over-month but was up 0.7% year-over-year.

• The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average sale price posted a 2% year-over-year increase in March.

 Read the recently released national sales statistics for March of 2024.

Read also: CREA’s Residential Market Forecast.

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.

TeamFisher.com hosted over 520,000 user sessions last year and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-900-4161 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate