Canadian Home Sales Edge Higher Month-Over-Month but Remain Down Year-Over-Year in January

According to statistics released on Wednesday (2-16-22) by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems edged up 1% between December 2021 and January 2022. CREA is reporting that activity has been generally stable now for four months, running in between the record-highs of last spring and the slowdown posted last summer.

The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions in January 2022 came in -10.7% below the record for that month, set in 2021. That said, as was the case throughout the second half of 2021, it was still the second-highest level on record for that month.

The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average home price was a record $748,450 in January 2022, up 21% from the same month last year. The national average price is heavily influenced by sales in Greater Vancouver and the GTA, two of Canada’s most active and expensive housing markets. Excluding these two markets from the calculation in January 2022 cuts almost $160,000 from the national average price.

The number of newly listed homes dropped by -11% month-over-month in January, with a pullback in the GTA accounting for more than half of the national decline. There were just 1.6 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of January 2022—tied with December 2021 for the lowest level ever recorded. The long-term average for this measure is a little over 5 months.