Canadian Home Sales Showing Signs of Decline, Falling by 0.7% in October
Canadian home sales posted yet another month of record-strong gains, with sales activity rising by 32.1% on a year-over-year basis in October. However, sales activity did show a slight decline from the month prior, falling by a mere 0.7% since September. Nonetheless, overall housing activity in Canada remains resilient pushing into the fall and winter months after record breaking summer sales activity.
The overall strong housing sales activity in October was pushed by gains in local markets, and then offset by declines in larger markets. Activity in the Greater Toronto Area, Greater Vancouver, Ottawa, and Hamilton-Burlington suffered a decline, and as a result pushed October’s supply levels higher. The seasonally adjusted number of newly listed homes rose by 2.9%, while non-seasonally adjusted listings reached a new record last month.
While October sales activity remained somewhat unchanged from the month prior and supply inched higher, the national sales-to-new listings ratio increased to 74.3% – one of the highest levels recorded yet. With respect to monthly inventory, which measures the balance between supply and sales, inventory was sitting at 2.5 months by the end of October – the lowest level on record. In fact, some local markets in Ontario only had about one month of inventory left.
Likewise, non-seasonally-adjusted housing prices hit a new record-high in October, increased by 15.2% to $607,250 compared to the same time a year prior. In the meantime, the seasonally-adjusted and non-seasonally-adjusted MLS Home Price Index rose by 1% and 10.9% respectively, in October.
Information for this briefing was found via CREA. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
