Sales declined 2.1% to 34,954 units from January, the Canadian Real Estate Association said in a statement from Ottawa Friday. Vancouver sales fell 9.8% to 1,759 units, while sales in Toronto declined 2.8% to 6,743 units.
Bank of Canada Gov. Mark Carney this month softened language about the need to raise the central bank’s 1% policy interest rate, partly on evidence a housing boom is slowing and consumer debt burdens are stabilizing. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tightened mortgage rules in July on concern some regional housing markets were overheating.
Sales dropped 15.8% in January from a year earlier and the average price fell 1% to C$368,895 ($361,400) on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, according to the report.
In an updated forecast released separately, the Realtor group said sales will decline 2.9% on a yearly basis in 2013 to 441,500 units. The national average home price will drop 0.2% to C$362,600, it said.
