VIRGINIA GALT
Globe and Mail Update
April 15, 2009 at 10:54 AM EDT
The Canadian housing market appears to be stabilizing, with sales activity up in March for the second consecutive month, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Wednesday.
Actual year-over-year transactions were down 13.7 per cent. This was the smallest year-over-year decline in six months, the association said.
“Housing markets are starting to show signs of buyer interest because of lower prices and interest rates,” Regina realtor Dale Ripplinger, CREA president, said in releasing the March results.
A seasonally adjusted total of 31,135 existing homes changed hands in March.
“This is an increase of 7 per cent from the previous month, and builds on the 10.3-per-cent activity gain in February,” CREA said in a news release.
“The number of transactions in March stands 18 per cent above levels reported in January, 2009, when activity sank to the lowest level in a decade.”
The national average resale price was $288,641 in March, down 7.7 per cent from a year earlier – again, the smallest year-over-year decline in six months, the association said.
The largest monthly increases in activity were in British Columbia, at 13.6 per cent, and Ontario, at 10.5 per cent, the association said.
“Looking back to economic recessions in the early 1980s and 1990s, national resale housing activity bottomed out before the job market or economy did,” CREA chief economist Gregory Klump said.
“It will take time for ample supplies of new and existing homes to be drawn down, but demand appears to be stabilizing.”
Globe and Mail Update
April 15, 2009 at 10:54 AM EDT
The Canadian housing market appears to be stabilizing, with sales activity up in March for the second consecutive month, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Wednesday.
Actual year-over-year transactions were down 13.7 per cent. This was the smallest year-over-year decline in six months, the association said.
“Housing markets are starting to show signs of buyer interest because of lower prices and interest rates,” Regina realtor Dale Ripplinger, CREA president, said in releasing the March results.
A seasonally adjusted total of 31,135 existing homes changed hands in March.
“This is an increase of 7 per cent from the previous month, and builds on the 10.3-per-cent activity gain in February,” CREA said in a news release.
“The number of transactions in March stands 18 per cent above levels reported in January, 2009, when activity sank to the lowest level in a decade.”
The national average resale price was $288,641 in March, down 7.7 per cent from a year earlier – again, the smallest year-over-year decline in six months, the association said.
The largest monthly increases in activity were in British Columbia, at 13.6 per cent, and Ontario, at 10.5 per cent, the association said.
“Looking back to economic recessions in the early 1980s and 1990s, national resale housing activity bottomed out before the job market or economy did,” CREA chief economist Gregory Klump said.
“It will take time for ample supplies of new and existing homes to be drawn down, but demand appears to be stabilizing.”
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