Existing home sales numbers from the Canadian Real Estate Association
- Sales rose for the fifth consecutive month
- Activity up 4.1% y/y
- Listings up 3.3% from Nov to Dec
- Home price index +9.1% y/y
"Monthly momentum for national home sales activity gained strength late last year and further expected economic and job growth will buoy sales activity this year despite slightly higher expected interest rates," said CREA President Andrew Peck.
The big caveat in the December Canadian housing data is that new rules went into effect in January that tightened rules, so there was a rush to close before year end.
"National home sales in December were likely boosted by seasonal adjustment factors and a potential pull-forward of demand before new mortgage regulations came into effect this year," said Gregory Klump, CREA's Chief Economist. "It will be interesting to see if monthly sales activity continues to rise despite tighter mortgage regulations that took effect on January 1st."
