Resale housing market shows further improvement in January in Canada

February 15th, 2011 – National resale housing activity climbed further in January 2011, according to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Seasonally adjusted national home sales activity rose 4.5 per cent in January 2011 compared to the previous month, reaching the highest level since April 2010. Led by Vancouver and Toronto, seasonally adjusted sales activity posted monthly gains in more than half of all local Canadian markets in January. National sales activity has improved steadily since last summer, and now stands almost 25 per cent above the low point reached in July 2010.
We anticipated the recent announcement of tighter mortgage regulations, which will come into effect this March, would pull forward sales activity into the first quarter of 2011, particularly in some of Canada’s more expensive housing markets,” Sohar said, a realtor with Re/Max.

It will take some time before the longer term impact of the latest mortgage regulations on the housing market can be known,” said Les Sohar, realtor with Re/Max “For that reason, further action shouldn’t be taken until the impact can be measured. In the meantime, if last year can be used as any guide, sales activity may heat up further as we get closer to the date on which tighter mortgage regulations come into effect, especially in some of Canada’s pricier markets. That said, local housing market trends often diverge from national trends, so buyers and sellers should consult their local REALTOR^® to understand how the market is shaping up where they live.”

Actual (not seasonally adjusted) national sales activity via the Multiple Listing Service^® (MLS^®) Systems of Canadian real estate Boards came in 6.6 per cent below levels in January 2010. This was the smallest year-over-year decline since May 2010.
Actual (not seasonally adjusted) new listings on Canadian MLS^® Systems normally post their biggest month-over-month increase in January. January 2011 was no exception, marking the first time since 2007 that new listings more than doubled in January compared to the previous month. As a result, seasonally adjusted new listings rose 3.9 per cent from December levels, the largest monthly gain since March 2010.