The national housing market continues to cool
National home sales in January hit a 14-year low for the month, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), as Canada’s housing market continued to slow.
January sales tumbled by 37.1% compared with the same time last year, the association said, also falling by 3% since December.
CREA said the results had seen small December gains reversed, with the January stats falling in line with a “mild downward trend” witnessed since the middle of last year.
The MLS Home Price Index was also down on a monthly basis, although that 1.9% decline was a slight one compared with the 12.6% year-over-year drop.
Greater Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal contributed significantly to the lower home sales figures for January, CREA said, wiping out gains in Quebec City and Hamilton-Burlington.
The association’s chair, Jill Oudil, said that while new listings were also sitting around record-low levels – they increased slightly, by 3.3% on a national basis in January – warmer weather in the coming months should see an uptick on that front.
Meanwhile, senior economist Shaun Cathcart also said a livelier spring market could be in the offing, especially with much-publicized interest rate increases appearing to be at or near an end for now.
“With the Bank of Canada increasingly signalling that rates are now at the top, it’s possible the spring market this year could… surprise, particularly in areas where prices have been stable or are now stabilizing,” he said.
“Buyers are likely feeling increasingly confident in taking on variable-rate mortgages, and 2023 will probably be a good window of opportunity to be able to engage in a calmer home search and buying experience following the intense market conditions of the last few years.”
Sales to new listings for January sat at 50.7%, around its level for much of the latter part of 2022, with 4.3 months of inventory available nationally at the end of last month.
