The Canadian Real Estate Association reports home sales in Canada slipped again in August, dropping 4.1% compared to July. This continues a trend that started in May. On a year-over-year basis, though, August sales were 5.3% higher with 38,345 properties changing hands.
The number of new listings coming to market continued to increase in August, up 0.8% from July. It is the fifth straight month of gains and new listings are up 24% since March.
The sales-to-new listings ratio eased to 56.2% compared to 59% in July. The measure is now just one percentage point above its long-term average of 55.2%.
“With sales slowing and new listings returning to more normal levels, demand and supply are continuing to come into better balance.”
“This is giving buyers more time and more choice,” said CREA Chair Larry Cerqua.
However, inventories remain low with about 3.4 months of stock on hand. That is up from 3.2 months in July, but well off the long term average of about 5 months.
Prices slipped again in August. The National Average price was down 3.0% from July, but up 2.1% compared to a year earlier, coming in at a little more than $650,000.
“Even though prices appear to be levelling out near current levels, year-over-year comparisons will likely continue to rise in the months ahead because of how prices continued to decline through the second half of 2022,” CREA said in its report.