Canadian Real Estate Association reports home sales down in November

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This article was published 14/12/2022 (741 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says seasonally adjusted home sales were down 3.3 per cent on a month-over-month basis in November.

The association said Thursday the move lower more than erased the gain seen in October and resumed the overall trend lower for the year.

CREA said about 60 per cent of all local markets saw lower sales in November, led by Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, Edmonton, the Greater Toronto Area and Montreal.

Compared with a year ago, actual home sales in November were down 38.9 per cent compared with November 2021.

TD Bank economist Rishi Sondhi said demand continues to decline under the weight of rising interest rates.

“Weaker sales activity should push prices even lower in the near-term. However, our forecast calls for average prices to only partially retrace their pre-pandemic gain when they eventually bottom,” Sondhi wrote in a report.

“An unanticipated surge in resale supply would undermine this view, but so far the rate at which new listings are hitting the market has been subdued.”

The number of newly listed homes fell 1.3 per cent on a month-over-month basis in November.

CREA said the sales-to-new listings ratio was 49.9 per cent in November compared with 50.9 per cent in October.

The actual national average home price was $632,802 in November, down 12 per cent from the same month last year.

Home sales and prices have fallen this year as rising interest rates have increased the cost of borrowing for Canadians.

The country’s big banks have raised their interest rates as the Bank of Canada has raised its key interest rate target seven times this year in an effort to bring inflation under control.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 2022.