Climbing home sales suggest a soft landing

From First National

The October read on home sales and prices has returned words like “balance” and “soft landing” to the conversations of market watchers.

The Canadian Real Estate Association reports home sales edged up 0.9% in October compared to September, for a third straight month of gains. But sales were down 4.3% from a year ago. The national average price of a home was up 5% to just shy of $506,000 y/y. Once again the Toronto and Vancouver areas skewed prices higher. Factoring out those markets brought the average price down to $383,000.

The Teranet Home Price Index recorded a 1% drop in October, the 2nd monthly decline in a row. Toronto led the way in the Teranet report with a 2.8% drop. Five of 11 markets monitored for the index recorded declines.

The CREA figures show new listings in October were down 0.8% from September while the sales-to-new-listings ratio was up 1% to 56.7%. That falls inside the 40% to 60% range that is considered balanced. The national inventory of housing stands at five months, which is in line with long term averages.