HOT HOUSING MARKET

Ontario and B.C. real estate expected to drive national average price up 8 per cent

Vancouver and Toronto real-estate sales outlook raised by the CREA,

OTTAWA— The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) raised its outlook for home sales this year as the Toronto and Vancouver markets continued to charge ahead of expectations, in contrast to other cities.

CREA said Tuesday it had expected the market to cool this year with smaller price gains in Ontario and B.C.

“However, many of the defining themes among Canadian housing markets last year have persisted, and in some cases intensified, in early 2016,” it said in its updated forecast.

CREA said it now expects sales this year to grow by 1 per cent compared with earlier expectations of a 1.1-percent contraction.

“Canadian resale housing market trends this year are expected to resemble those apparent in 2015, with very tight supply leading to strong price gains in British Columbia and Ontario — particularly in the Lower Mainland and in and around the Greater Toronto Area,” the forecast said.

“Price gains in these regions are expected to continue to stand in sharp contrast to moderate price declines among housing markets whose prospects are closely tied to oil and other natural resource prices.”

Ontario and B.C. are expected to drive the national average price up 8 per cent to $478,100 in 2016, according to the forecast.

The revised outlook came as CREA reported home sales in February were up18.7 per cent from a year ago, driven by sales in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

Toronto and Vancouver also helped pump up the national average price for a home sold in February to $503,057. Excluding those two markets, the average price was $355,235, up 8.7 per cent.

On a month-over-month basis, home sales in February were up 0.8 per cent from January. The increase compared came as a majority of the housing markets tracked posted a monthly drop in sales.