Home sales have increased 1.3% from September to October, the first adjusted gain in eight months. However, one should not assume that this is going to be the beginning of an upward trend but more like a stabilization as sales are 35.6% below the February level. With the rate hike in December that is expected, the resale market could experience even further declines in the coming months well below its historical average. This stabilization has been evident in the majority of Canadian provinces except Quebec and Newfoundland where there has been decreases.
On the increased supply side, this is the first time in 4 months that new listings are up by 2.2% from September to October. Despite this increase, this is allowing supply to accumulate (increasing from 3.7 to 3.8 in October). We are, however, not yet seeing an abundance of sellers at this time so based on historical data. So in turn the market conditions are still appearing to be favorable for sellers. This is also present to most Canadian provinces except BC and Manitoba where the market is indicating that is favorable for buyers.
Yearly comparison would indicate that home sales were down 36% next to last October. Sales were down in every province as well, with the largest decline observed in BC (-44.9%). The smallest was in Saskatchewan (-12.1%). The first 10 months of 2022, sales were down 23.2% compared to the same time in 2021.
*Paraphrased from the Economic News / National Bank of Canada / November 15, 2022
