New homes are built in a housing construction development in the west end of Ottawa on Thursday, May 6, 2021. The Canadian Real Estate Association is lowering its forecast for home sales and prices this year due to weakness in Ontario and B.C.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association is lowering its forecast for home sales and prices this year due to weakness in Ontario and B.C.
The association says it expects some 449,614 residential properties to trade hands via Canadian MLS systems in 2023, a 9.8 per cent drop from 2022.
Meanwhile, the national average home price is forecast to fall 3.3 per cent on an annual basis to $680,686 in 2023.
The updated forecast compared with expectations in July for a 6.8 per cent decline in the number of sales this year and a 0.2 per cent drop in the average price.
The forecast came as CREA reported home sales in September were up 1.9 per cent compared with the same month a year earlier. On a month-over-month basis, sales in September were down 1.9 per cent.
The actual national average home price was $655,507 in September, up 2.5 per cent from September 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2023.
