Home sales up 18% - Action News
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Home sales up 18%

The Canadian Real Estate Association says 135,182 homes were sold countrywide in the third quarter, up 18 per cent from a year earlier and the most ever for the period.

Lack of listings driving up prices, real estate group says

The Canadian Real Estate Association says 135,182 homes were sold countrywide in the third quarter, up 18 per cent from a year earlier and the most ever for the period.

It'sthe biggest year-over-year increase since early 2002, the groupsaid Thursday.

People walk past new homes for sale in Oakville, Ont., in April. Nationally, housing sales increased by 18 per cent during the third quarter, the CREA says.

Building on two previous quarterly increases, seasonally adjustedhome saleson the agency's Multiple Listing Servicenow stands 48 per cent above the low reached in the fourth quarter last year.

Quarterly salesincreases in Vancouver (34 per cent), Toronto (11 per cent), and Calgary (19 per cent) were the largest contributors to the national increase.

The risein sales activity is combining with fewer new listingsto drawdown inventories and drive up prices,compared with year-ago levels, the association said.

There were 208,215 homes listed for sale on MLS in Canada at the end of September 2009, down 16 per cent from a year earlier.

That's the fifth consecutive year-over-year decline in active listings and the largest decline in more than six years, the association said.

On the price side,at $327,736, the average price of a home in Canada rose 11 per cent in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier.

The national average price continues to be skewed upward by a sharp rebound in activity at the higher end of the price spectrum in some of Canadas priciest markets, the CREA said.

The national average price surpassed all previous monthly levels in September 2009, rising 13.6 per cent year-over-year to $331,602. July and August also posted new average price records.

Severalprovinces setprice records for September. Ontario posted the highest average price on record in the province, at $326,698 10.7 per cent higher than the level during the same quarter last year.

Nationally, the number of months of inventory was 4.9 months in September, down slightly fromAugust and well down from the recessionary peak of 12.8 months in January.