Activity nonetheless remains historically high, but in contrast to March’s all-time record, it is now running closer to levels seen in the first half of 2020. While sales are now down a cumulative 25% from their peak, and below every other month in the last year, June transactions still managed to set a record for that month (see chart below).

For the second month in a row, sales were lower in every province. The steepest drops were in B.C. (-14.6% m/m) and the Atlantic provinces (down a combined 9.8% m/m). In Ontario, sales fell 9.0% m/m. They posted a much smaller 1.9% m/m drop in Quebec.

June’s decline was helped along by stricter stress test rules implemented at the beginning of the month. We expect these rules to continue to weigh on demand in the near term, although the amount of tightening this time around (+46 bps) pales in comparison to early 2018 (+220 bps), the last time the rules were changed.

The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions in June 2021 was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis.

“While there is still a lot of activity in many housing markets across Canada, things have noticeably calmed down in the last few months,” said Cliff Stevenson, Chair of CREA. “There remains a shortage of supply in many parts of the country, but at least there isn’t the same level of competition among buyers we were seeing a few months ago.”

The number of newly listed homes edged back a slight 0.7% in June compared to May. In contrast to the past year’s synchronicity in demand and supply trends, the little-changed national new supply figure in June reflected a mixed bag of results, with about half of local markets seeing gains – welcome news for frustrated buyers.

The national sales-to-new listings ratio was 69.2% in June 2021, the lowest reading since last August. That said, the long-term average for the national sales-to-new listings ratio is 54.6%, so it remains historically high; although, it has been steadily moderating since peaking at 90.8% back in January (see chart below).

Based on a comparison of sales-to-new listings ratio with long-term averages, more than half of all local markets were in balanced market territory in June, measured as being within one standard deviation of their long-term average. The was a significant shift compared to most of the past year which saw a majority of markets well into seller’s market territory.

There were 2.3 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of June 2021, up from 2.1 months in May and up from an all-time record-low of just 1.8 months in March. That said, it is still very much in sellers’ market territory. The long-term average for this measure is a little over 5 months.

The Aggregate Composite MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI) rose 0.9% month-over-month in June 2021, continuing the trend of decelerating month-over-month growth that began in March. That deceleration was initially seen more so on the single-family side; although, that trend is now also playing out in the townhome and apartment segments.

The non-seasonally adjusted Aggregate Composite MLS® HPI was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis in June. Based on data back to 2005, this was another record year-over-year increase; although, given how price growth took off in July of last year, this June 2021 reading may end up being the peak for year-over-year growth.

Looking across the country, year-over-year price growth is averaging around 20% in B.C., though it is lower in Vancouver and higher in other parts of the province. Year-over-year price gains in the 10% range were recorded in Alberta and Saskatchewan, while gains are closer to 15% in Manitoba. Ontario is seeing an average year-over-year rate of price growth in the 30% range, however, as with B.C., gains are notably lower in the GTA and considerably higher in most other parts of the province. The opposite is true in Quebec, where Montreal is in the 25% range and Quebec City is in the 15% range. Price growth is running a little above 30% in New Brunswick, while Newfoundland and Labrador are in the 10% range.

Since peaking in March, home sales are down 25% from the inferno levels early this year, but demand is still historically strong. Despite the steep pullback, seasonally adjusted sales are roughly 18% above pre-pandemic trends. When the economy opens fully and immigration resumes, the underlying fundamentals for housing demand will rise, especially as university students return to campus living, and adult children move into their own nests.

Sales activity will continue to gradually cool over the next year, but it will take higher interest rates to soften the housing market in a meaningful way.

Condo sales in markets such as Toronto and Vancouver have picked up from their pandemic lows in recent months. This is the polar opposite of what happened earlier in the pandemic, when sales of relatively expensive detached units dominated, raising average prices. Moving forward, if condos consume a rising share of the overall sales pie (perhaps through strong demand for these units, slowing sales of detached houses, or some combination of both), compositional effects could continue to weigh on average prices.

Jobs continue to swing back and forth as the various COVID waves drive lockdowns and reopenings. Hopefully, we’re in the last of the reopenings. Services accounted for all of the gains. Hospitality jobs were the biggest gainer, as expected, adding 101k positions, but they remain well below pre-virus levels. Restrictions are expected to continue easing through the summer, which should mean more solid gains over the next couple of months. Other sectors seeing a boost from the reopening were retail/wholesale (+78k), education (+26k) and health care (+20.5k). Goods sectors were down across the board, with losses concentrated in construction (-23k) and manufacturing (-12k).

Beyond the headline increase, one of the bigger stories in this report is the sharp 0.6 ppt rise in the participation rate to 65.2%. That’s the largest increase in a year and leaves the rate 3-4 ticks away from pre-COVID levels. Compare that to the U.S., where the participation rate is still nearly 2 ppts lower than in early 2020. The rise in the participation rate limited the decline in the jobless rate to 0.4 ppts to 7.8%, still some wood to chop there. The rising participation rate should alleviate some concerns about widespread labour shortages.

The bulk of the gains were in pandemic-exposed sectors, like retail, food and accommodation, that got hit most by the new containment measures. Employment in accommodation and food services was up 101,000. The retail sector added 75,000 jobs.

Increasing vaccination rates and falling Covid-19 case counts have allowed the country to finally re-open restaurants, bars and retail stores after months of closures. Ontario began allowing patio dining earlier this month, and several cities in Quebec have further relaxed restrictions, allowing indoor dining for the first time this year.

With the June gains, Canada has recovered 2.65 million of the 3 million jobs lost at the height of the pandemic last year. The nation created 263,900 part-time jobs, with full-time employment down 33,200.

Employment growth in June was entirely in part-time work and concentrated among youth aged 15 to 24, primarily young women. Increases were greatest in accommodation and food services and retail trade, consistent with the lifting or easing public health restrictions affecting these industries in late May and early June in many jurisdictions.

The number of employed people working less than half their usual hours fell by 276,000 (-19.3%) in June. Total hours worked were little changed and were 4.0% below their pre-pandemic level.

The employment increase in June was in part-time work, which rose by 264,000 (+8.0%) following combined losses of 132,000 over the previous two months. The overall level of part-time employment was essentially the same as in February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Increases in the month were driven by accommodation and food services and retail trade—two industries where part-time workers represent an above-average proportion of employment—and were concentrated among youth.

After falling by 143,000 over the previous two months, full-time work was little changed in June and was 336,000 (-2.2%) lower than its pre-pandemic level.

Gains were driven by private-sector employees, while self-employment declines.

The number of private-sector employees rose by 251,000 (+2.1%) in June, following two monthly declines. As of June, the number of private-sector employees was 2.5% lower (-313,000) than in February 2020.

In the public sector, employment rose by 43,000 (+1.1%) in June, bringing it to 180,000 (+4.6%) above pre-pandemic levels. Employment in this sector has trended up following the initial wave of the pandemic, particularly driven by increases in health care and social assistance, public administration, and educational services.

The number of self-employed workers fell by 63,000 (-2.3%) in June and was down 7.2% (-207,000) compared with February 2020. Self-employment is a broad category that includes workers in various situations, including working owners of incorporated or unincorporated businesses and independent contractors. Compared with June 2019, declines in the number of self-employed were widespread across multiple industries and were concentrated among the self-employed with paid help.

The employment rate remains below pre-pandemic levels.

To fully understand current and emerging labour market trends, it is essential to consider employment change against the backdrop of population change, which totalled 1.1% (+334,000) between February 2020 and June 2021. To keep pace with this population growth and maintain a stable employment rate—that is, employment as a proportion of the population aged 15 and over—employment would have had to grow by 203,000. Instead, total employment was 340,000 lower in June than in February 2020, and the employment rate was 1.7 percentage points lower (60.1% compared with 61.8%).

Number of Canadians who worked from home drops by nearly 400,000 

Among Canadians who worked at least half their usual hours in June, the number who worked from home fell by nearly 400,000 to 4.7 million. For 2.6 million of these people, working from home represented an adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic, as this was not their usual work location. At the same time, the number of people working at locations other than home rose by approximately 700,000 to 12.3 million.

Almost one-third (31.4%) of workers aged 25 to 54 and more than one-quarter (27.2%) of those aged 55 and older worked from home in June. Due to their concentration in industries where working from home is less feasible, such as accommodation and food services, a far smaller proportion of youth aged 15 to 24 (12.9%) did so.

Regionally, Ontario and Quebec led the way higher, though B.C. and Nova Scotia had solid increases as well. Interestingly, even with restrictions easing through most of the country, only five provinces reported job gains.

The jobs report is the last major piece of economic data before next week’s Bank of Canada policy decision, where it’s expected to continue paring back its stimulus efforts. The Bank of Canada is among the first from advanced economies to shift to a less expansionary policy, having already cut its purchases of Canadian government bonds to $3 billion weekly from a peak of $5 billion last year.

Analysts anticipate that will come down to C$2 billion per week at the July 14 meeting before eventually falling to a weekly pace of about C$1 billion by early next year. In addition to the bond tapering, the market has priced in at least one interest rate hike by this time next year.

Canada’s economy remains 340,000 jobs shy of pre-pandemic levels. The unemployment rate was below 6% before the pandemic.

With vaccination rates rising and restrictions easing, economists are predicting a strong rebound in the second half. According to a Bloomberg News survey of economists earlier this month, Canada’s expansion is seen accelerating to an annualized pace of 9.1% in the third quarter, with a 6% gain in the final three months of 2021. Consumer and business confidence regarding the outlook has recently hit record highs.