Canadian home sales drop 5.8% in January after winter storm

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Canadian home sales fell 5.8% in January from December and prices declined as a severe winter storm hit parts of the country, including Ontario, the most populous province, data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed on Wednesday.

Unusually, the sharp slowdown in sales was accompanied by a sizeable increase in new listings which led to the sales-to-new listings ratio dropping well below the long-term average, CREA said.

KEY DETAILS

• Home sales declined 5.8% month-over-month in January

• Sales were down 16.2% on an annual basis, without seasonal adjustment

• The industry group's Home Price Index fell 0.9% on the month and was down 4.9% year-over-year

• Newly listed properties jumped 7.3% month-over-month, while the sales-to-new listings ratio declined to 45% from 51.3% in December

• “The monthly decline in national home sales was driven primarily by less activity in the Greater Golden Horseshoe and Southwestern Ontario, suggesting that the story was probably more about a historic winter storm than a downshift in demand,” CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart said.