Canada Housing Resales Rise 4.1% in August, First Increase Since March
Canadian existing home sales rose 4.1 percent in August from the previous month, the first increase since March, according to a realtor group.
Seasonally adjusted unit sales rose to 32,807 homes from 31,521 in July, the Canadian Real Estate Association said in a statement. Sales in August were 23 percent below year-ago levels and the average price for a home was little changed at C$324,928 ($316,000), the group said.
Canada’s mortgage rates are close to the lowest since the Korean War even after the Bank of Canada raised its overnight lending rate three times since June to 1 percent from a record 0.25 percent. The central bank said in July it expects housing to contribute 0.6 percentage point to Canada’s 3.5 percent growth this year.
“Although economic and job growth are expected to be tepid, they will continue to support housing markets,” CREA chief economist Gregory Klump said in the statement.
The average five-year fixed mortgage carried a 5.39 percent interest rate at the end of August, down from 5.79 percent at the end of July.
Sales in the January-August period were 2.2 percent higher than during the same months last year, the group said.
Sellers listed 66,906 new homes in August, 16 percent lower than a peak in April. The inventory of homes on the market represents 6.9 months worth of sales, down from 7.3 months in July and the first decline since November.
To contact the reporters on this story: Alexandre Deslongchamps in Ottawa at adeslongcham@bloomberg.net; Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at targitis@bloomberg.net
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