03 Jun REAL ESTATE MARKET UPDATE: MAY 2020
Substantial month over month recovery in May
On a month over month basis, both actual and seasonally adjusted sales in May 2020 were up substantially compared to April 2020, with an actual sales increase of 55.2%. New listings were up by 47.5% in May compared to April and active listings were up by almost 9%. Prices in May also held up – regaining the drop experienced in April, increasing year over year by 3% and being only 5% off the February pre-pandemic high point this year. With the Bank of Canada’s new Governor, Tiff Macklem, keeping the key interest rate unchanged at one-quarter per cent on June 3, and trimming previous estimates for the economic downturn, there is reason to be optimistic that April was the bottoming out of COVID-19’s impact on the market.