Sales Set Record In First Quarter
Existing-home sales set record in first quarter
ELIZABETH CHURCH
Globe and Mail Update
A record number of homes traded hands in Canada in the first quarter, thanks to a strong showing in Western Canada, numbers released Monday show.
Sales volumes increased 6.4 per cent in the first quarter, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported, surpassing 90,000 units for the first time in a three-month period. (All numbers are seasonally adjusted.)
Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary and Edmonton saw the greatest jump in existing home sales, with all four cities setting sales records for the quarter.
Despite the strong quarterly showing, the new numbers show that the pace of sales across the country slowed in March, barely budging from February levels. Even so, March was the third highest month for sales volumes.
The average price of an existing home rose 9.5 per cent in March from the same month last year, again largely because of demand in Western markets. At the top of the pack was Edmonton, where the average price of a home was $325,439, an increase of close to 48 per cent from March, 2006. The Alberta capital is the fifth most expensive city in Canada to buy a home, behind Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary and Toronto.
Other markets that saw sizable increases in average home prices include Calgary at 27.6 per cent, Saskatoon at 28.2 per cent and Sudbury at 27.5 per cent.
Average home prices were up 13.7 per cent in Vancouver and 3.4 per cent in Toronto, the country's largest market.
"The resale housing market continues to be a story that features the West and the rest," said Gregory Klump, the real estate association's chief economist.
As a result, CREA is expecting price increases in British Columbia and the Prairie provinces to outpace all other markets.
Prudential Sussex Realty
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