Calgary and Edmonton home prices continue to fall compared to year-ago levels.
A report released Monday by the Canadian Real Estate Association said the benchmark price of a home in Calgary dropped 0.96 per cent year-over-year in February to $414,400 while in Edmonton it fell by 1.23 per cent to $315,000.
However, nationally the aggregate price of $637,600 increased by 5.85 per cent.
CREA said home sales recorded over Canadian MLS systems rose by 5.9 per cent in February, marking one of the larger month-over-month gains of the past decade.
With transactions up in about 60 per cent of all local markets in February, the big national increase was largely the result of a 15 per cent jump in activity in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Many other Central and Southern Ontario markets also posted sizeable sales gains between January and February, said the association.
CREA said sales activity stood 26.9 per cent above February 2019, although sales were quite weak a year ago. February 2019 marked a decade-low for the month, so a good part of the big year-over-year gain reflects low levels of activity recorded at the time.
February 2020 also benefited from an additional day due to the leap year, added the association.
“Following a quieter than normal December/January period, February saw a burst of new listings in some of Canada’s most supply-starved markets, so it was not a surprise that sales were up alongside that increase in new supply,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Senior Economist, in a statement.
“There is some question about how much pent-up demand remains in. parts of the country where listings have been low for some time now. That said, it will take more than one month of increased new listings to even start to turn some of these markets towards some semblance of balance. In the meantime, expect competition among buyers for available listings to continue to drive prices higher.”
