Albertans continue to be tentative when it comes to buying new vehicles, according to a report by ATB Financial’s Economics & Research Team.
“As of November 2019, the seasonally adjusted number of new vehicles sold in the province had fallen 11 times over the course of 12 months. The number of units sold in November was off by 0.8 per cent compared to October and by 6.5 per cent compared to a year earlier,” said ATB in its daily economic update The Owl.
“A decline in new vehicles sales is a sign that a growing number of potential buyers either can’t afford a new vehicle or are holding off until they feel more comfortable with the outlay. It’s also a sign more businesses are making do with the vehicles they already have either because money is tight or business is too slow to justify adding capacity.
“Declining sales create concern not only for auto and truck sellers. They are also an indication that the overall economy is in low gear.”
ATB said the seasonally adjusted dollar value of new vehicles sold in Alberta is also down. Adjusted monthly sales fell by $8.7 million in November (-1.0 per cent) and were down by $43.8 million (-4.7 per cent) on a year-over-year basis. In unadjusted terms, sales revenue was $469.4 million less over the first 11 months of 2019 than it was over the same period in 2018, it added.
“The situation is not much better in the rest of Canada. Even after subtracting Alberta’s lacklustre sales, the seasonally adjusted number of vehicles sold in the rest of the country in November was down by 3.6 per cent on a year-over-year basis. The dollar value of sales in the rest of Canada, however, managed a modest 0.1 per cent increase over the first 11 months of 2019 (unadjusted),” said the report.
Mario Toneguzzi is a business reporter in Calgary.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.