Canadian home sales expected to grow this year
The number of Can
adian homes sold this year will outpace 2011 while prices will hold steady in most parts of the country, the country’s largest real estate association said Monday in a rosy revision to its 2012 outlook.
The Canadian Real Estate Association said the number of home sales with grow by 0.3 percent this year to 458,800 from 457,305 units in 2011, largely due to the continuation of low borrowing rates.
The national average price is forecast to dip by 1.1 per cent in 2012 to $359,100 but that’s due to a drop-off in multi-million dollar sales activity in Vancouver – Canada’s most expensive real estate market.
Prices are expected to remain around the current levels in most parts of the country, CREA said.
The most recent forecasts reversed those CREA gave in November, when it expected home sales to fall by 0.5 percent this year, and the national average home price to hold steady at $362,700.
The revisions come at a time when central banks in Canada and the United States are keeping their key lending rates low to counter the economic drag caused by the European debt crisis.
“Risks to the Canadian economic outlook remain elevated owing to the European sovereign debt quagmire, but the continuation of low interest rates is the silver lining,” CREA chief economist Gregory Klump said.
CREA expects Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia will drive the sales growth this year, offsetting weakness in British Columbia, Ontario and New Brunswick.
