Canadan Home Sales Decrease For The Third Consecutive Month

The Canadian Real Estate Association released statistics today that reveal national home sales dropped for the third consecutive month.

The number of homes sold through Canadian MLS Systems declined by 1.3 per cent month-over-month in July. Similar declines were noted in May and June. July came in 3.9 per cent below the record set in April of this year. The number of new listings increased by 1.2 per cent in July in comparison to June.

Much of the national home sales decline in the past few months reflects slowing activity in British Columbia's Lower Mainland. According to data, home sales activity decline from the previous month in slightly half of all markets in July, led by Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley.

Cliff Iverson, CREA President, stated that national home sales and prices continue to be greatly impacted by a number of places in British Columbia and Ontario. National home sales also continue to hide significant variations in local housing market trends and conditions throughout the country.

Cliff Iverson also stated that realtors continue to be the best source of information relating to sales, listing and price patterns where people live or may like to live in the future.

CREA reported that the national average price for homes sold in July was $480,743 which represents a 9.9 per cent increase year-over-year. The national average price continues to be pushed upward by sales activity in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto.

These two regions continue to be Canada's most active and expensive housing markets. If these two housing markets were excluded from calculations, the national average price for homes sold in July would be $365,033.

Reference:

CREA (Canadian Real Estate Association)