OTTAWA, Aug. 15, 2013 /CNW/ – According to statistics released today by
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales were
little changed on a month-over-month basis in July 2013.

Highlights:

• National home sales edged up 0.2% from June to July.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity came in 9.4% above levels in
  July 2012.
• The number of newly listed homes edged down 0.4% from June to July.
• The Canadian housing market has tightened but remains in balanced
  territory.
• The national average sale price rose 8.4% on a year-over-year basis in
  July.
• The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) rose 2.7% year-over-year in July.

The number of home sales processed through the MLS® Systems of real
estate Boards and Associations and other cooperative listing systems in
Canada was little changed on a month-over-month basis in July 2013.
Sales edged up just two-tenths of a percentage point to hold below
levels reached prior to tightened mortgage regulations last year.

The number of local markets where sales improved on a month-over-month
basis ran roughly even with those where activity edged back in July.
Outsized gains in Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver tipped the
balance, resulting in a small increase at the national level.

“Resale housing activity was mixed in July, with some local markets
continuing to improve and others dialing back some of their recent
gains,” said CREA President Laura Leyser. “Among major markets where
sales declined in July, activity is still higher than it was at the
start the year. That said, prospects going forward will really depend
on where you are and your local REALTOR® remains the best resource for
understanding the housing market where you live or might like to.”

“Canadian home sales have staged a bit of a recovery in recent months
after having declined in the wake of tightened mortgage rules and
lending guidelines last year, but the numbers for July suggest that
national activity is levelling off at what might best be described as
average levels,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist. “Sales
dropped sharply in August last year, so we may see some year-over-year
increases in sales and average prices next month that would reflect
weakness in the rear view mirror.”

Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity came in 9.4 per cent ahead of
levels reported in July 2012. Sales were up on a year-over-year basis
in three of every five local markets, led by double-digit gains in
Greater Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Greater Toronto. In Greater
Toronto and Greater Vancouver, increases reflect sales trends that were
already weakening at this time last year.

Some 284,865 homes have traded hands across the country so far this
year. That stands 4.6 per cent below levels in the first seven months
of 2012.

The number of newly listed homes edged down 0.4 per cent on a
month-over-month basis in July. As with sales activity, the number of
local markets where new supply increased was equal to those where it
declined. However, due to its size, the decline in new listings in
Greater Toronto tipped the balance slightly negative at the national
level.

With both sales activity and new listings little changed in July, the
national sales-to-new listings ratio was 54 per cent. This remains
roughly on par with June’s reading of 53.7 per cent. While the national
housing market has tightened slightly in recent months, it remains
firmly rooted in balanced market territory where it has been since
early 2010.

Based on a sales-to-new listings ratio of between 40 to 60 per cent,
two-thirds of all local markets were in balanced market territory in
July.

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. At 6.1 months, the measure was
unchanged from June to July. The number of months of inventory was
higher in July than in June in more than half of all local markets, and
stood above the ten-year average for the month of July in about 70 per
cent of all local markets.

The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average price for homes
sold in July 2013 was $382,373, an increase of 8.4 per cent from the
same month last year.

“Sales activity in some of Canada’s larger and more expensive markets
was softening and pulling down the national average home price at this
time last year,” said Klump. “The recent improvement of activity in
these markets contributed to the national average price gain in July.
If Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver are removed from national
average price calculations, the increase is cut almost by half. A
better gauge of what’s going on with prices is the MLS® Home Price
Index, which is not affected by changes in the mix of sales the way
that the average price is. The index shows year-over-year price growth
stabilizing between two and three per cent.”

The Aggregate Composite MLS® HPI rose 2.7 per cent compared to July
2012. Year-over-year growth in the price index has slowed since late
2011 and has held steady between two and three per cent for the past
six months.

Year-over-year price growth picked up for two-storey single family homes
(+3.3 per cent) and apartment units (+1.3 per cent), but slowed for
one-storey single family homes (+2.7 per cent) and townhouse/row units
(+1.0 per cent).

Year-over-year price growth in the MLS® HPI was mixed across the markets
tracked by the index.

PLEASE NOTE: The information contained in this news release combines
both major market and national sales information from MLS® Systems from
the previous month.

CREA cautions that average price information can be useful in
establishing trends over time, but does not indicate actual prices in
centres comprised of widely divergent neighbourhoods or account for
price differential between geographic areas. Statistical information
contained in this report includes all housing types.

MLS® Systems are co-operative marketing systems used only by Canada’s
real estate Boards to ensure maximum exposure of properties listed for
sale.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) is one of Canada’s largest
single-industry trade associations, representing more than 106,000
REALTORS® working through more than 90 real estate Boards and
Associations.

Further information can be found at http://crea.ca/statistics.

SOURCE Canadian Real Estate Association

For further information:

Pierre Leduc, Media Relations
The Canadian Real Estate Association
Tel.: 613-237-7111 or 613-884-1460
E-mail: pleduc@crea.ca