Slow February home sales signal ‘things are about to pick up’: CREA

Home prices were flat in February, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association, snapping a five-month streak of declines in the housing market.

February may have been a “relatively uneventful” period in Canada’s housing market, but the national real estate association thinks the slow month could be the calm before a spring storm.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) said Monday that home sales were down 3.1 per cent in February from January, giving back some of the gains seen over the previous two months.

CREA’s home price index was flat in February, snapping a streak of five consecutive months of declines.

The national average home price last month was $685,809, up 3.5 per cent year over year.

The number of newly listed properties rose 1.6 per cent ahead of the typically busy spring market.

CREA chair Larry Cerqua said in a statement Monday that how busy the season ends up being depends on whether Canadians are waiting for hints of interest rate cuts from the Bank of Canada, or just for listings to pick up in the spring.

“After two years of mostly quiet resale housing activity there’s a feeling that things are about to pick up,” Cerqua said.

Policymakers at the Bank of Canada have been mum on the timeline for interest rate cuts, which affect the cost of borrowing and the size of mortgages Canadians can afford. But economists expect easing to the policy rate at some point this year, with cuts potentially beginning in the late spring or early summer.