CANADA – According to statistics recently released by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales were up on a month-over-month basis in December 2016.
Highlights:
- National home sales rose 2.2% from November to December.
- Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity in December was down 5.0% from a year earlier.
- The number of newly listed homes dropped 3.0% from November to December.
- The MLS Home Price Index (HPI) in December was up 14.2% year-over-year (y-o-y).
- The national average sale price climbed 3.5% y-o-y in December.
The number of homes trading hands via Canadian MLS Systems rose 2.2 % month-over-month in December 2016. The rebound recovered less than half of the drop in activity from October to November, when it posted the biggest monthly retreat in more than four years after tightened mortgage regulations came into effect.
Activity was up on a month-over-month basis in about 60% of all local markets, led by Calgary and Edmonton where sales rallied following large declines in November.
Actual (not seasonally adjusted) sales activity was down 5.0% in December from a year ago, when it reached the highest level ever for the month. The number of homes changing hands in 2016 was up by 6.3% annually, reflecting strong sales activity in the first half of the year that has softened since.
The number of newly listed homes fell 3.0% in December 2016 compared to November. New listings were down in about 60% of all local markets, with sizeable declines in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, Calgary and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
With sales up and new listings down, the national sales-to-new listings ratio rose to 63.5% in December compared to 60.3% in November.
Price gains remained strongest for two-storey single family homes and townhouse/row units (16.1% y-o-y and 15.4% y-o-y respectively), followed closely by one-storey single family homes (13.3% y-o-y) and apartment units (12.0% y-o-y).
Additional information and statistics are available at the following link.