TORONTO: Canadian home sales are down by about 14 percent in April 2018 compared to the same period in 2017.
These sales figures for the month of April are the lowest in seven years, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) said on Tuesday.
“Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was down 13.9% compared to April of last year and hit a seven-year low for the month. It also stood 6.9% below the 10-year average for the month,” CREA said.
Home sales fell in 60 percent of markets across Canada, led by the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) region in Ontario, Calgary, Ottawa and Montreal.
Moreover, the national average price for homes sold in April 2018 was just over $495,000, down 11.3 percent from one year earlier.
Home sales were also down by 2.9 percent from March 2018. Even the numbers of newly listed homes fell by 4.8 percent from March to April 2018.
CREA President Barb Sukkau said, “The stress-test that came into effect this year for homebuyers with more than a twenty percent down payment continued to cast its shadow over sales activity in April.”
According to CREA Chief Economist Gregory Klump,“This year’s new stress test has lowered sales activity and destabilized market balance for housing markets in Alberta,Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador Provinces.”
He added, “This is exactly the type of collateral damage that CREA warned the government about. As provinces whose economic prospects have faced difficulties because they are closely tied to those of natural resources, it is puzzling that the government would describe the effect of its new policy as intended consequences.”
