The Canadian Real Estate Association calls it “a snapshot” of the nation’s market over the last year, probably because that’s precisely what it is: a quick, superficial, general look at what happened in real estate in 2021.
In short, a snapshot.
In short, a snapshot.
Without taking into consideration the different provinces, the different sizes and types of housing and the different markets within markets, the CREA confirmed what most of the country has discovered — a record year of sales and price growth.
There were more sales (20.7 per cent), more listings (8.9 per cent) and higher (21.1 per cent) home prices than in 2020, making 2021 a record year for sales and home prices. The “more listings” comes with an asterisk because the backdrop for the increase in listings is that the housing inventory was at an all-time low and down 33 per cent when 2021 began.
The number of Canadian homes sold last year climbed to 667,000, an increase of 115,000 from the previous year. The price of homes reached an historic high of $726,199 (measured by the Home Price Index for MLS listings).
As always, figures like these are useful for identifying trends.