Canadian home sales push higher in February
Ottawa, ON, March 15, 2016 – According to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales recorded a second consecutive month-over-month increase in February 2016.
Highlights:
- National home sales rose by 0.8% from January to February.
- Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was up 18.7% comCREA housing forecast March 2016CREA monthly statistics and MLS HPI February 2016pared to February 2015.
- The number of newly listed homes edged up by 0.5% from January to February.
- The Canadian housing market has tightened but remains balanced overall.
- The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) rose 8.5% year-over-year in February.
- The national average sale price rose 16.4% on a year-over-year basis in February; excluding British Columbia and Ontario, it declined by 1.4%.
The number of homes trading hands via Canadian MLS® Systems rose by 0.8 percent in February 2016 compared to January. The monthly increase lifted national sales activity to the highest level since June 2007.
CREA Updates Resale Housing Forecast
Ottawa, ON, March 15, 2016 – The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has updated its forecast for home sales activity via the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) Systems of Canadian real estate Boards and Associations for 2016 and extended it to include 2017.
CREA’s recent forecasts anticipated that housing activity would rebalance in 2016, with cooling activity and smaller price gains in British Columbia and Ontario, resulting in slower national price growth. However, many of the defining themes among Canadian housing markets last year have persisted, and in some cases intensified, in early 2016. Interest rate are now also widely expected to remain low for longer, with administered lending rates beginning to rise no earlier than the second half of 2017.
CREA housing forecast March 2016
CREA monthly statistics and MLS HPI February 2016
