Canadian home prices falling steadily - Financial Post

Richard Buchan/The Canadian Press The Ottawa-based group said the average price of a home sold last month was $353,147, a decline of 2% from a year. The year over year decline in June was 0.8%.

Home prices continued to decline across the country in July and the pace of the depreciation is picking up, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

The Ottawa-based group said the average price of a home sold last month was $353,147, a decline of 2% from a year. The year over year decline in June was 0.8%.

Recent changes to mortgage regulations were widely expected to temper sales and prices in Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver, and the data released today confirms that

?Prices are off their recent peaks in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, but remain above year-ago levels in most markets,? the group said, in a release.

Activity was up from the previous month in Kingston, Chilliwack, and Calgary, offset by fewer sales in Toronto, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Edmonton. Actual sales across the country were up 3.3% overall from a year ago.

But CREA said the market has been impacted by changes to mortgage rules which have made it tougher for consumers to borrow.

?Recent changes to mortgage regulations were widely expected to temper sales and prices in Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver, and the data released today confirms that,? said Wayne Moen, president of CREA.

Gregory Klump, chief economist with CREA said those rules have impacted some buyers more than others.

?Some first-time home buyers may have difficulty qualifying for mortgage financing due to shortened amortization periods included in recent changes to mortgage regulations,? said Mr. Klump.? ?As the lynchpin of the housing market, lower first-time buying activity will have knock-on effects over the rest of the market. It will likely take more time for move-up buyers to sell their current home.?

The number of newly listed homes fell 3.3% in July compared to June, with declines in more than half of all local markets including Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Calgary, and Edmonton.

CREA said the results put the market in what it calls ?balanced territory? with the national sales-to-new listings ratio, a measure of market balance, at 53.4% in July 2012, up from 51.6% in June.

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2012/08/15/canadian-home-prices-falling-steadily/

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