Article content continued

“Greater Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area are heading into the spring home buying season with soaring demand and a shortage of listings,” said Cliff Iverson, president of CREA, adding other major markets are balanced or have ample supply.

The number of homes trading hands via Multiple Listing Service system across Canada was up 1.5 percent month-over-month to set a new all-time record in March 2016, the national association said. Actual activity was up 12.2 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

CREA said the average price for a home across the country rose to $508,567, a 15.7 per cent increase from a year ago. But the price increase was driven largely by Toronto and Vancouver — without those two markets the average price across the country would have risen 10.4 per cent year over year to $366,950.

The organization also sounded a warning shot over new government regulations, designed to slow the market down which might actually heat things up among some housing classes. Ottawa announced new rules which took effect in February, increasing the minimum down payments from five per cent to 10 per cent for the price of a home over $500,000.

“Sales below a half-a-million dollars, which were not subject to recently tightened mortgage regulations, are being increasingly restrained in these markets by a short supply of listings. If current sales and listings trends persist, price gains may pick up further this spring,” said Gregory Klump, chief economist with CREA.