Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Home sales across Canada fell for the third consecutive month in June as the market continued to slow from its March highs, but the month still set a record, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Thursday.
The association said sales cooled in 80 per cent of the country's local markets as 50,810 homes changed hands last month, down 8.4 per cent from 55,497 in May.
However, when compared with a year ago, sales in June rose 13.6 per cent to set a new record for the month.
While the frenzied pace of sales that kicked off 2021 and triggered an all-time record in March are dissipating, Elton Ash said CREA's figures indicate that many markets are still heated.
"We will still continue to see price escalations for the balance of this year, but it is starting to slow down as more inventory comes out on the market," said Ash, a regional executive vice-president at Re/Max Canada.
"June was another record setting month, but we do see the market starting to adjust to hopefully more realistic market conditions."
As vaccination efforts intensified and more businesses reopened following COVID-19 lockdowns, he noticed the multi-offer environment start to ease and said buyers are being "satiated somewhat" by existing supply.
CREA said 73,402 homes were listed in June, down 0.7 per cent from 73,912 in May.
On a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, 86,632 were newly listed in June, up 1.4 per cent from 85,421 a year earlier.
The biggest increase in new listings between May and June came in the Halifax Dartmouth region, which saw 53.9 per cent more properties hit the market.
Meanwhile, the Quebec and Saguenay areas saw the most dramatic month-over-month drops with new listings falling by 28.1 per cent and 26.3 per cent, respectively.
On a year-over-year basis, the most significant decline in new listings came in Saguenay, where there were 47.2 per cent fewer homes to choose from, while the largest increase was in the Niagara region of Ontario, where a 34.3 per cent spike was seen.
Across the country, CREA said the actual national average price of a home sold in June was a little over $679,000, up 25.9 per cent from $539,182 a year ago.
Vancouver had the highest prices with the average home selling for $1,199,984, up 14.3 per cent from $1,049,475 the year before.
The Greater Toronto Area trailed at $1,089,560, up 17 per cent from $930,869 in June 2020.
CREA said year-over-year price growth is averaging around 30 per cent in Ontario, 20 per cent in B.C., 15 per cent in Manitoba and 10 per cent in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
While CREA's senior economist Shaun Cathcart said the theme of the summer and many housing markets is "slowly getting back to normal," he admitted that "it's a long road back to normal."
In a note to clients, BMO Capital Markets senior economist Robert Kavcic appeared to agree.
Extreme levels of housing sales are disappearing, but demand is historically high, he wrote.
"We believe that sales activity will continue to gradually cool in the year ahead, but it's going to take higher interest rates to soften the market in a meaningful way."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2021.
An earlier version incorrectly stated the change in new listings.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.