The Canadian Real Estate Association says July’s data from the Multiple Listing Service, which handles the bulk of Canadian home resales transactions, continued a months-long cooling trend in the once-bustling real estate sector.

CREA says that the decline was almost entirely the result of fewer sales in British Columbia and Ontario. A slowdown in demand in these two provinces had been widely expected in July, as many purchases were brought forward into the first half of the year in advance of the introduction of the harmonized sales tax (HST) on July 1st.

“The soft sales figures we’re seeing right now can be attributed in part to accelerated home purchases earlier in the year,” said CREA president Georges Pahud.

“Activity may remain at lower levels for some time, but ultimately we expect a more stable market to emerge, with demand coming back into line with economic fundamentals.”

British Columbia had the biggest dropoff at 14.1 per cent, followed by Ontario with an eight per cent decline. Meanwhile, sales in the Prairies and Quebec were on par with June levels.

Seasonally adjusted national home sales activity via the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) Systems of Canadian real estate Boards was down 6.8 per cent from June. But the association says the pace of the decline was slower than in May and June — which followed an extremely busy period early this year.

Meanwhile, prices remained fairly steady last month, as expected. The average price of homes sold via Canadian MLS® Systems in July was $330,351, edging up one per cent from the same month last year. While year-over-year comparisons have been shrinking as prices stabilize, the national average home price is likely somewhat understated this month, since the majority of activity declines occurred in British Columbia and Ontario, which include many of Canada’s most expensive markets.

The information contained in this news release combines both major market and national MLS® sales information from the previous month. CREA cautions that average price information can be useful in establishing trends over time, but does not indicate actual prices in centres comprised of widely divergent neighborhoods or account for price differential between geographic areas. Statistical information contained in this report includes all housing types.

Further information can be found at www.crea.ca.

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Tags: Canadian Real Estate Association, Multiple Listing Service