Average property prices in Canada last month were up 9.8% compared to a year ago, according to the latest statistics from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), but sales were little changed compared to October.
Average property prices in Canada last month were up 9.8% compared to a year ago, according to the latest statistics from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), but sales were little changed compared to October.
The actual, not seasonally adjusted, national average price for homes sold in November 2013 was $391,085 and CREA said that the size of the year on year gain continues to reflect the decline in sales activity last year in some of Canada’s larger and more expensive markets which caused the national average price to drop at that time.
However, removing Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto from national average price calculations more than cuts in half the year on year increase to 4.3%.
The MLS Home Price Index provides a better gauge of price trends, as it is not affected by changes in the mix of sales activity the way that average price is, and the aggregate Composite MLS HPI rose 4.11% compared to November 2012.
The CREA data also shows that year on year price growth picked up among all property types tracked by the index with the exception of town houses and terraced houses.
Year on year price gains were led by one storey single family homes with growth of 4.88%, closely followed by two storey single family homes at 4.59%, town houses and terraced houses at 3.13% and apartments at 2.46%.
Year on year price growth in the MLS HPI was mixed across housing markets tracked by the index, led by Calgary with a rise of 8.82% and Greater Toronto up 5.69%. Greater Vancouver recorded the first year on year increase at 1.02% since prices turned lower last year.
Meanwhile, the number of home sales processed through the MLS Systems of Canadian real estate Boards and Associations and other co-operative listing systems was little changed in November 2013 compared to October, edging down by 0.10%.
National sales activity in November stood 3.4% below the peak reached in September, providing further evidence that activity in the later summer and early autumn was likely boosted by home buyers with pre-approved mortgages at lower than current interest rates jumping into the market before their pre approvals expired.
‘Tightened mortgage regulations, combined with the recent increase in the five year mortgage rate, have affected housing markets differently depending on their location,’ said CREA president Laura Leyser.
The data also shows that local markets where sales improved on a month on month basis ran roughly even with the number in which activity edged back in November, with a decline in Greater Toronto offsetting an increase in Greater Vancouver.
November’s seasonally adjusted sales figure stood slightly above 0.7% but roughly in line with the average for monthly sales over the past 10 years.
Actual, not seasonally adjusted, activity was up 5.9% from November 2012. Year on year increases were posted in about half of all local markets, led by gains in Greater Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Greater Toronto.
On an actual, not seasonally adjusted, basis, a total of 434,678 homes have traded hands across the country so far this year. This represents an increase of 0.2% compared to levels recorded in the first 11 months of 2012.
‘While there has been a lot of volatility in sales activity from month to month, sales for the year to date are on par with fairly steady levels posted for the same time period in each of the past five years,’ said CREA chief economist Gregory Klump.
The number of newly listed homes rose 1.8% on a month on month basis in November. New supply was up in a little over half of all local markets, with a jump in BC’s Lower Mainland outstripping small declines in Greater Toronto and Ottawa.
With sales activity flat on a month on month basis and new listings up, the national sales to new listings ratio slipped to 53.4% in November compared to 54.5% in October. The CREA report says this remains well within balanced market territory, as has been the case since early 2010.
Based on a sales to new listings ratio of between 40 to 60%, about three out of every five local markets were in balanced market territory in November.
The number of months of inventory is another important measure of balance between housing supply and demand. It represents the number of months it would take to completely liquidate current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.
There were six months of inventory at the national level at the end of November, unchanged from one month earlier. As with the sales to new listings ratio, the current level of the months of inventory measure indicates that the Canadian housing market remains well balanced.
‘Most housing markets are in balanced market territory, including in many large urban centres where sales are below peaks reached earlier this year,’ said Klump.
‘On balance, current trends provide more evidence that the Canadian housing market remains well behaved while interest rates remain low,’ he added.