January 2012 CREA – National Residential Sales

Feb 21, 2012 by admin

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released their January 2012 statistics with the headline “Canadian Home Sales Fall Back in January”.  This headline reflects that national resale housing sales activity (# of units sold) was down by 4.5% from December 2011, however in the next sentence CREA reported a year-to year 4% increase in seasonally adjusted residential sales activity in January 2012 compared to January 2011. The headline could have just as easily read “Canadian Home Sales Up in January.”

That’s certainly the case in the Georgian Triangle, as although comparing January 2012 to December 2011 sales activity  shows a decrease of  18%, (compared to -4.5% nationally), comparing  January 2012 to January 2011 shows an increase of  30% (compared to 4% nationally)  and our residential sales dollar volume shows an increase of 52% (compared to 5.2% nationally) in January 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.

CREA also reported total residential sales dollar volume seasonally adjusted in January 2012 was down 3% from December 2011, however sales volume was up 5.2% in January 2012 compared to January 2011. At the same time new listings were down 1.4% nationally, and with sales down by more than new listings, the national market shifted further into balanced territory.

Overall, January showed the first monthly decline in national sales activity since August 2011 and returned the national activity to where it stood at the end of third quarter 2011. At the same time comparing year-ago levels in January, this month saw the smallest year over year national increase since last May.

CREA president, Gary Morse stated, ” The national housing market is stabilizing and remains well balanced. That said, forecasts for economic and job growth going forward vary widely for different parts of the country, suggesting a possible continuation of a softening trend in some markets, as well as the potential that demand will pick up based on strong fundamentals in others. All real estate is local so talk to your Realtor® to understand how price trends in your neighbourhood are shaping up.”  Case in point. Our local market seems to be holding true to the second part of his statement whereas nearby markets are following national trends. We agree 100% and statistics prove that your local Realtor® provides you with the best advantage when buying or selling local real estate. Link to complete report.