Canadian Home Sales Edge Higher In January

OTTAWA — According to statistics released Feb. 15th by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales activity edged up on a month-over-month basis in January 2013. National sales activity has held fairly steady after gearing down last August in the wake of tightened mortgage lending rules.

Highlights:

• National home sales rose 1.3% from December to January.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity came in 5.2% under levels in January 2012.
• The number of newly listed homes rose 1.6% from December to January.
• The Canadian housing market remains firmly in balanced territory.
• National average sale price was up 2% year-over-year in January.
• The MLS HPI rose 3.1% in January, the smallest gain since April 2011.

The number of home sales processed through the MLS Systems of real estate Boards and Associations and other cooperative listing systems in Canada edged up 1.3 per cent on a month-over-month basis in January 2013. This marks the fifth month in a row that national sales activity has shown little change from levels in the previous month.