Canadian home sales slide 15% in October

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A slowdown in some of the country's most expensive cities for housing continues to drag down the average sale price of a home in Canada, the Canadian Real Estate Association said.

The average sale price of a home last month was $281,133, a 9.9% decline from a year ago. It's the fifth straight month that prices have fallen in the country's major markets on a year over year basis, and each month the percentage decline has increased.

Sales also continue to decline across the country. In major markets, sales in October were down 15.1% from September. The 32,046 sales in October for the entire country were the lowest monthly level since July, 2002.

" ?" K: ?7 e: ]( e' C% ^"The breadth and depth of the drop in MLS activity suggests a major downshift in consumers psychology," said Gregory Klump, chief economist CREA. "That has moved many homebuyers to the sidelines until economic news begins to improve."

CREA said activity was down in 75% of the Canadian markets it surveys, including the five most active, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. Toronto accounted for one third of the decline in the national sales figure.

0 m# q/ \# S* }0 q/ n+ Q"Many homebuyers across Canada battened down the hatches in October as they were concerned with dire headlines about stock market volatility and a global economic downturn," said Mr. Klump.

He said the government's tougher restrictions on home buying played into the decline. New rules that came into effect last month have forced consumers to have at least 5% down on any home purchase. Mortgages can also be amortized over 35 years, down from 40 years, making for a larger monthly payment.
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The market is expected to get some relief from the fact that new listings are expected to decline, Mr. Klump says.

CREA president Calvin Lindberg said consumer confidence has not been this low since the mid-1990s. "The major drop in consumer and a steady stream of economic bad news from the financial markets is taking its toll on the national housing market," he said.

' m; y3 |. {. _The association pointed out a decline in housing is bad news for the overall economy, saying spin off spending from MLS transaction is about $15.3-billion per year when you include moving and renovation costs and the purchase of new furniture and appliances.

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CO2

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原帖由 CO2 于 2008-11-14 12:02 发表
) `4 j. S; G9 N地产协会这回是认衰了。9月份的时候嘴还很硬啊。

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