Canadian home sales rise in February despite inventory declines: CREA

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) recently released national sales statistics for February 2023.

"Home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems posted a 2.3% increase from January to February 2023. Gains were led by the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Greater Vancouver. 

"The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions in February 2023 came in 40% below an incredibly strong month of February in 2022. The February 2023 sales figure was comparable to what was seen for that month in 2018 and 2019. 

“The similarities between 2023 and the recovery year of 2019 continued to emerge in February, with sales up, the market tightening, and month-over-month price declines getting smaller,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Senior Economist. “But the biggest similarity was a sharp drop in seasonally adjusted new listings. Future sellers, many of whom will also be buyers, are likely biding their time until the optimum time to list and buy something else. For most, that’s in the spring. Will buyers jump off the fence to snap homes up in 2023 once they finally start to hit the market? They did in 2019 ” 

Highlights of the report:

•              National home sales rose 2.3% month-over-month in February.

•              Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 40% below February 2022.

•              The number of newly listed properties dropped 7.9% month-over-month.

•              The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) edged down 1.1% month-over-month and was down 15.8% year-over-year.

•              The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average sale price posted an 18.9% year-over-year decline in February.

Read the recently released national sales statistics for February of 2023.

Read also CREA's Housing Market Forecast for 2023.

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