Canadian Existing-Home Sales Jump 7.7% in October

On Friday, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reported that existing-home sales activity recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems increased 7.7% month-over-month in October, reaching its highest level since April 2022.

New listings posted a 3.5% month-over-month decline in October, although that followed a 4.8% jump in September, so new supply remains at some of the highest levels since mid-2022, CREA reported. The national pullback in October was led by a drop in new supply in the Greater Toronto Area. As a result, with sales rising considerably in October and new listings falling, the national sales-to-new listings ratio tightened to 58%, up from 52% in September. The long-term average for the national sales-to-new listings ratio is 55%, with a sales-to-new listings ratio between 45% and 65% generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions.

There were 174,458 properties listed for sale on all Canadian MLS® Systems at the end of October, up 11.4% from a year earlier but still below historical averages for that time of the year. There were 3.7 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of October, down from 4.1 months at the end of September and the lowest level in more than a year. The long-term average is 5.1 months of inventory, with a seller’s market being below about 3.6 months and a buyer’s market being above 6.5 months.

The non-seasonally adjusted National Composite MLS® HPI was 2.7% below October 2023, the smallest decline since May. It’s likely negative year-over-year comparisons will continue to shrink given the weakness in prices seen towards the end of 2023, CREA said. The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average home price was $696,166 in October, up 6% from October 2023.