CREA: Canada’s home sales to beat expectations
The Canadian Real Estate Association raised its outlook Monday for home sales this year as it reported a 11.1% jump in August sales compared with a year ago.
According to a recent report from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), August home sales saw an increase of 11.1% over the same month a year ago. This has driven CREA to raise its forecast for home sales in 2013 to 449,000, an increase of the June estimate of 443,000. The national average home price is set to rise to $376,300 this year, an increase of 3.6%, crediting price gains in the Prairies and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The increase in sales is believed to be closely connected to the recent uptick in fixed mortgage rates. Potential buyers are locking in mortgages while rates are still hovering at record lows.