Sunlight reflects from the windows of condominiums in Toronto, Ontario, Canada December 20, 2019. REUTERS
OTTAWA, March 17 (Reuters) – Canadian home sales fell 1.3% in February from January and prices declined in continuation of a trend that started early this year, data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed on Wednesday, although it added there were some signs of a pick-up in activity around the end of the month.
New listings dropped on a monthly basis in February but were not enough to boost the sales-to-new listings ratio which stayed well below the long-term average, data showed.
KEY DETAILS
- Home sales edged down 1.3% month-over-month in February, after falling by 5.8% in January
- Sales were down 8.1% on an annual basis, without seasonal adjustment
- The industry group’s Home Price Index fell 0.6% on the month and was down 4.8% year-over-year
- Newly listed properties declined by 3.9% month-over-month, while the sales-to-new listings ratio slightly narrowed to 47.6% from 46.4% in January
- “2026 is still ultimately expected to be a story about pent-up first-time buyer demand finally seeing a chance to enter the market. They’ve had to wait a long time for mortgage rates to find a bottom, but some will no doubt continue to hold off for a bottom in prices in some Ontario and British Columbia markets,” CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart said.
Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
