Homes sales hit record high; outlook upgraded

John Morrissy, Financial Post 

OTTAWA — Home sales hit a new record high in October, leading the Canadian Real Estate Association to boost its outlook for 2009 and 2010.

Resale home activity was up 41.5% in the month, reaching a total of 42,288 units. On a seasonally adjusted basis, homes sold on the Multiple Listing Service totalled 45,818 units in October.

“Low interest rates and upbeat consumer confidence continue to release the pent-up demand that built late last year and earlier this year,” said CREA president Dale Ripplinger. “The release of that pent-up demand has boosted national sales activity to new heights and is drawing down inventories.”

Further, said Millan Mulraine, economics strategist at TDSecurities, “we expect the recent strong gains in the housing market to remain largely intact, though we suspect that the back-to-back double-digit advance in sales seen earlier this year may not be repeated.”

As a result of the sector’s strong performance, CREA increased its forecast for sales in 2009 by 6.6% to 460,200 units. For 2010, the national industry group said sales would rise 7% to 492,300 units.

The average home price also reached new highs in October, climbing to $341,079, up 20.7% from a year ago.

A separate measure, which limits its focus to Canada’s major markets, showed the average price rising 22.1% to $373,095.

At the same time, the sharp rise in housing demand has eaten into inventories. With 194,994 homes listed for sale in Canada at the end of October, the number of listings is 20.8% below the peak reached in October of last year.

It is the sixth month in a row in which inventories have fallen from year-ago levels, bringing supply to 4.1 months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the lowest level in more than two years.

CREA chief economist Gregory Klump said new listings are expected to rise in coming months in response to headline average price increases.

New monthly sales records were set in about one fifth of local markets in October, including Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. On a provincial basis, new records were set in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, largely as a result of increased activity in those provinces’ major markets.

Canwest News Service