National home sales on the rise

 The harsh winter is taking the blame for the slow activity the real estate across Canada experienced in the first quarter of 2014. The number of home sales processed through the MLS® Systems of Canadian real estate boards and associations edged up just one per cent from February to March 2014. This builds on the monthly gain of 0.6 per cent the previous month, but leaves activity closer to the low reached in January 2014 than to the most recent peak reached in August 2013.

Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity stood 4.9 per cent above levels posted in March 2013. Sales were up from last March in 60 per cent of local markets with Greater Vancouver, Calgary, and Greater Toronto providing the largest contributions to the national increase.

While up from last year, actual activity in March ran 8.2 per cent below its 10-year average for the month of March. Results were similar for actual activity for the first quarter: up 2.8 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2013, but 7.5 per cent below the 10-year average for the first quarter period.

The number of newly listed homes was little changed in March, rising 0.5 per cent following a monthly gain of equal magnitude in February. New supply nationally has been running at lower levels since it dropped sharply in December 2013.

The national sales-to-new listings ratio was 52.5 per cent in March – virtually unchanged from 52.3 per cent in each of the two previous months. Since early 2010, the ratio has remained firmly entrenched within the range from 40 to 60 per cent that marks balanced market territory. Two-thirds of all local markets posted a sales-to-new listings ratio in this range in March.

Numbers are up when it comes to price though. The national average price for homes sold in March 2014 was $401,419, an increase of six per cent from the same month last year.