UNSPLASH/Dhruv Saran Mehra
Prices climbed in June. the first month-over-month increase in almost a year, CREA said.

The Canadian housing market showed some signs of life in June, as sales rose 3.7 per cent from the prior month and inventories declined slightly, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Monthly home sales, at 38,916, remained below the 10-year average and new listings rose to an annualized 855,876, the most in two years. Meanwhile, seasonally adjusted benchmark home prices rose 0.1 per cent to $717,700, a tiny increase but the first one in almost a year.

“It wasn’t a ‘blow the doors off’ month by any means, but Canada’s housing numbers did perk up a bit on a month-over-month basis in June following the first Bank of Canada rate cut,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Senior Economist.

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates last month after a sustained period of tightening, and may cut again this month, depending on inflation data. Buyers are likely waiting to see what happens with mortgage rates before jumping back into a housing market that is still largely unaffordable for most Canadians.

It would take 4.2 months to sell the current number of homes on the market at the current rate of sales, CREA said in the release, down slightly from 4.3 months in May, which was the highest level of supply since May 2020.

In a separate release, CREA reduced its forecast for sales and prices this year, blaming “another quiet spring and increased levels of supply.” The realtor group now predicts sales to increase 6.1 per cent to 472,395 in 2024 and the national average home price to rise 2.5 per cent to $694,393. That compares with an April forecast of an 11 per cent increase in sales and a 5 per cent rise in prices.