The average price of a Canadian home has fallen by 5.5% to $455,000 over the past 12 months, according to new data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).
CREA represents 125,000 realtors across the country, and said Friday that sales were higher in January than in December, but that prices still sank compared to a year ago. National home sales rose 3.6% between December 2018 and January 2019. However, actual (not seasonally adjusted) home sales were down by 4% from a year ago. The number of newly listed homes edged up 1% month-over-month in January.
With actual home sales down 4% from year-ago levels, January 2019 turned out to be the weakest start to a year since January 2015. Home sales in January were below the 10-year average for the month in Canada’s three westernmost provinces, as well as Ontario and Newfoundland & Labrador.
If there was a positive in the latest numbers, it is that the number of newly listed homes edged up 1% in January, led by a jump in new supply in the Greater Vancouver and Hamilton-Burlington regions.
With sales up by more than new listings, the national sales-to-new listings ratio tightened to 56.7% compared to 55.3% posted in December 2018. This measure of market balance has remained close to its long-term average of 53.5% for the last year, said CREA.
Prices for home prices rose 7.1% year-over-year in Ottawa (led by a 9.5% increase in townhouse unit prices), 6.3% in Greater Montreal (led by a 9.2% increase in townhouse unit prices) and 1% in Moncton, New Brunswick (led by a 15.1% increase in townhouse unit prices).
