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• New national data from CREA shows home sales in Canada declined 3.3% month-over-month in November, while new listings were down 1.3%.
• Compared to November 2021, monthly activity declined nearly 40%, and the average home price was down 12%.
• According to CREA, about 70% of local markets are currently in balanced market territory.

Home sales declined 3.3 per cent month-over-month in November, according to national statistics from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

The drop in sales comes as the number of new listings edged down 1.3 per cent; new listings fell in more than half of the local markets.

Compared with a year ago, November’s number of transactions (not seasonally adjusted) was down 38.9 per cent and stood about 13 per cent below the 10-year average.

Monthly home sales (CNW Group/Canadian Real Estate Association)

October marked the first monthly gain for home sales since February, but CREA says this most recent data shows that small gain has been more than erased, and monthly home sales are rejoining the moderating trend that began in February.

The national average home price (not seasonally adjusted) was $632,802, down 12 per cent from November 2021.

“There were no big surprises in the November housing numbers, with the data showing the same trends of lower sales and moderating prices we’ve been seeing for a number of months now,” says Jill Oudil, chair of CREA.

Oudil notes that while interest rates aren’t likely to improve in the first half of 2023, many economists don’t expect the Bank of Canada to make any significant hikes.

CREA’s data also show listings are not “flooding the market”. November 2022 saw the fewest new listings for that month in 17 years, with the one exception of 2019.

“It will be interesting to see what buyers do when listings start to come out in big numbers in the spring, and even more interesting to see what happens a little later when the Bank of Canada…starts to eventually cut rates,” says Shaun Cathcart, senior economist for CREA.

Cathcart adds, “All the other fundamental factors needed for the market to take off again are still out there.”

November data shows sales-to-new listings ratio eased back to 49.9 per cent compared to 50.9 per cent in October. The ratio has remained close to 50 per cent since May; the long-term average for this measure is 55.1 per cent.

According to CREA, about 70 per cent of local markets are currently in balanced market territory.

REM Editorial Team