OTTAWA – Home sales in April were up from March as Canadians took advantage of low interest rates.
The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales in April through its MLS system were up 2.3 per cent compared with the previous month.
The increase was the third consecutive month-over-month climb, but it was down from the 4.1 per cent increase in March.
“As expected, low mortgage interest rates and the onset of spring ushered many homebuyers off the sidelines, particularly in regions where winter was long and bitter,” CREA president Pauline Aunger said in a statement.
Sales were up on a month-over-month basis in two-thirds of the markets tracked, led by gains in Montreal and the Toronto region.
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Montreal posted a gain of 4.4 per cent, while Toronto added 2.9 per cent.
Compared with a year ago, sales across the country were up 10 per cent, boosted by the big gains in the Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley regions as well as Toronto.
However, compared with a year ago, sales in Edmonton, Calgary and Regina were sharply lower.
The national average price for a home sold in April was $448,862, up 9.5 per cent from April 2014. However, excluding Vancouver and Toronto, the average price was $339,893, up 3.4 per cent from a year ago.
The aggregate composite MLS home price index was up 4.97 per cent on a year-over-year basis in April.
CREA said the number of newly listed homes in April was up 0.1 per cent compared with March, with the supply increasing in nearly two thirds of all markets.
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