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Real estate sales nationwide continued their slide this past December with significantly lower sales than last year.
Canadian Real Estate Association statistics from December show sales declined by 39 per cent from 2021, one of the single-biggest sales declines on record year over year.
Still, activity remained just below average for the month over the last decade, CREA numbers show.
Sales had declined for several months last year following interest rate increases by the Bank of Canada to ease inflation, which increased mortgage rates. Overall, sales fell about 20 per cent in 2022 in Canada from 2022.
One bright spot in December was month-over-month sales increased about one per cent from November.
The rise did not stop price declines, however, falling about two per cent month over month in December to $626,318 in Canada.
Year over year, prices slid in December almost 12 per cent.
At the same time, newly listed properties dropped about six per cent month over month, CREA numbers show.
Lower listings helped raise the sales-to-new-listings ratio slightly in December to about 54 per cent versus 50 per cent in November. Both ratios show a Canadian market in balance between buyer demand and sellers, and near the long-term average of about 55 per cent.
Canada averaged about four months of supply in December, nearly a full month below the long-term average, CREA states.
Prices dropped across all markets — though Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon and St. John’s prices posted the smallest decreases from their peaks earlier in 2022.
CREA further noted Vancouver and Toronto weigh heavily on the data, particularly prices.
Excluding those two cities, the average price of a home in Canada at the end of December would be $118,000 lower at $508,318, it noted.
