In February 2024, Canadian home prices, as indicated by the seasonally adjusted Aggregate Composite MLS® Home Price Index (HPI), remained stable compared to the previous month, marking an end to five consecutive declines that began last autumn. This information comes from the latest data released by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).
The fact that prices stayed unchanged from January to February is noteworthy, especially considering the 1.3% drop observed from December to January. Given the usual stability of the seasonally adjusted MLS® HPI, such sudden shifts are quite rare.
In the past 20 years, there have only been three instances, including this one, where there was a significant improvement or increase in the month-over-month percentage change from one month to the next. These occurrences were scattered over the last four years when demand was picking up.
Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Senior Economist, commented, “It’s likely that February will be the last relatively calm month of the year in terms of the 2024 housing market. With significant demand waiting in the wings, the focus will shift from the timing of interest rate cuts to the number of homes listed for sale this year.”
Home sales activity across Canadian MLS® Systems saw a 3.1% decline between January and February 2024, offsetting some of the cumulative 12.7% rise in activity seen in December 2023 and January 2024. However, there has been a general trend of higher activity levels over the past three months compared to the quieter market observed in fall 2023.
Source: https://stats.crea.ca/en-CA/
