National Real Estate Sales: ... Smallest Gain in 2 Years!

CREA 
Canadian home sales rise in March
Mon, 04/15/2013 - 09:00

Ottawa, ON, April 15, 2013 - According to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales edged upward on a month-over-month basis in March 2013 but stayed well below levels recorded one year ago.

Highlights:

• National home sales rose 2.4% from February to March.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity came in 15.3% below levels in March 2012.
• The number of newly listed homes was up 3.2% from February to March.
• The Canadian housing market remains firmly in balanced territory.
• The national average sale price rose 2.5% on a year-over-year basis in March.
• The MLS® HPI rose 2.2% in March, its smallest gain in more than two years.

Mortgage Broker News
Home sales were up slightly nationwide for the month of March, but remain well below levels recorded from a year ago, according to statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

More importantly, the Home Price Index for March rose only 2.2 per cent – its smallest gain in more than two years.

“National sales have been holding fairly stable since last summer,” says CREA President Laura Leyser. “We’ll be watching closely as the spring market picks up to see whether the March sales increase marks the beginning of an improving trend.”

Home sales rose 2.4 per cent from February to March of this year, but actual activity for March compared to the same month a year ago were 15.3 per cent below the 2012 levels.

New listings were up 3.2 per from February to March, with average sale prices up 2.5 per cent from compared to March 2012.

CREA attributes the sluggish March sales numbers to the Easter holiday and the loss bank days due to an extra full weekend at the end of the month – known as the “trading day effect.”

“Easter and trading day factors combined effectively to cut March sales short,” says Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist. “Activity in the months ahead will reveal whether the monthly improvement in seasonally adjusted March sales reflects technical seasonal adjustment factors or a fundamental improvement in demand.”

CBC News

Crappy Vancouver Market to Blame for Lower Sales Nationally?

Vancouver’s slowing housing market contributes to lower sales, prices nationally
BIV: Jennifer Harrison 
Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:00am PST
According to Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) statistics released yesterday, national resale housing activity edged lower on a month-over-month basis in June 2012, exacerbated by continued slowing in Greater Vancouver.

Sales over Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Systems in Canada eased 1.3% on a month-over-month basis in June 2012. This follows a 3.4% decline posted in May.

CREA said national activity was down from the previous month in slightly more than half of all local markets, with Greater Toronto and Vancouver contributing most to the small decline.

Wayne Moen, CREA president, said, “Canada’s housing market lost a little altitude in June, but it’s still flying pretty high.”

Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was down 4.4% in June 2012 compared with the same month last year. This marks the first year-over-year decline in national activity since April 2011.

Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist, said, “Home buyers didn’t rush their purchases before the most recently announced changes to mortgage regulations came into effect.

“That’s a big change compared to what we saw as a response to previously announced changes. It will take some time before the compound effect of previous and recent changes to regulations on Canada’s housing market becomes apparent.”

The national average price for homes sold in June 2012 was $369,339, down 0.8% from the same month last year. While average sale prices in June were up year-on-year in about seven out of every 10 local markets, the national average price continued to be skewed downward by compositional factors – most notably by fewer sales in Vancouver in recent months compared with stronger levels last year.

The CREA noted removing Vancouver from the national average price calculation yielded a 3.2% year-over-year increase.

jharrison@biv.com

@JHarrisonBIV