Residential sales activity reported through the MLS® Systems of real estate Boards and Associations in Ontario numbered 27,914 units in May 2016, an increase of 9.3 percent from a year earlier. This was the highest monthly sales figure on record.

Nationally, home sales activity rose 9.6 percent from year-ago levels in May 2016.

Provincial year-to-date home sales were running 10.3 percent above the first five months of 2015. The 100,785 homes that have traded hands so far this year represent the best start to any year on record and also the fastest year to hit the 100,000 mark.

The provincial average price for homes sold in May 2016 was a record $547,860, rising 12.8 percent from a year earlier.

The national average price, by comparison, rose 13.2 percent on a year-over-year basis to $509,460.

The year-to-date average price for Ontario was $526,550, rising 12.2 percent from a year earlier.

New listings on the MLS® Systems of real estate boards in Ontario numbered 40,432 units in May, a decrease of 7.9 percent from a year earlier.

Active residential listings numbered 54,204 units at the end of May, down 26.6 percent from one year earlier. Supply has now fallen to the lowest level in over a decade.

There were just 1.9 months of inventory at the end of May 2016, down from 2.9 months at the same time one year ago and below the long-run average for this time of year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.

The value of all home sales in the province totalled $15.3 billion in May 2016, an increase of 23.3 percent from May 2015. This was the highest level of any month on record. The dollar volume of all home sales in Canada was up 24.1 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Sales of all property types in Ontario numbered 29,295 units in May, up 9.7 percent from May 2015. The value of those sales amounted to $15.7 billion, rising 23.6 percent from a year earlier.