By Fergal Smith
TORONTO, June 3 (Reuters) – Greater Toronto Area home sales posted their biggest monthly gain in 10 months in May, helped by improved affordability, while prices resumed their recent decline, Toronto Regional Real Estate Board data showed on Wednesday.
Here are some details:
• Seasonally adjusted sales increased 10% last month from April to 5,364 units, marking the third straight month of gains and the largest since July last year.
• The board’s home price index edged 0.2% lower month-over-month, after seasonal adjustment, to C$927,800 ($670,569.53). It follows a flat reading in April, which ended a streak of 10 straight monthly declines.
• The Greater Toronto Area includes Toronto, Canada’s most populous city, and four surrounding regional municipalities.
• “Spring sales have been stronger than last year, reflecting improved affordability stemming from lower selling prices and borrowing costs,” the board’s president, Daniel Steinfeld, said in a statement.
• “Sales are forecast to improve further as we move through the second half of this year. Recovery would be further bolstered by positive news on the trade front along with an easing of geopolitical tensions and related uncertainty,” Steinfeld said.
• Canada faces uncertain negotiations to renew a continental trade pact that has helped shield its goods from U.S. tariffs.
• The recent surge in energy costs due to the war in the Middle East has raised the outlook for inflation globally.
• On a year-over-year basis, sales rose 6.3%, while new listings declined 18.9% and the price index was down 6.7%.
($1 = 1.3836 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Fergal SmithEditing by Rod Nickel)
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