OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says last month was the weakest January for residential sales since 2015, with the number of transactions down 4% nationally from last year.

The association says about 23,968 properties were sold through the Multiple Listing Service in January, down from 24,977 a year earlier.

CREA says the national average price for all types of residential properties sold in January was $455,000, down 5.5% from the same month in 2018 – the biggest year-over-year decline for a month since May 2018.

The MLS house price index – which adjusts for differing property types – was up 0.8% year-over-year, the smallest increase since June 2018.

In the Greater Vancouver area, price index was down about 4.5% year-over-year but up 4.2% in Victoria and up 9.3% from a year ago elsewhere on Vancouver Island.

The index for the Greater Toronto Area was up 2.7% and up 6.3% for the Greater Montreal area, but down in Regina (minus 3.8%), Saskatoon (minus 2.0), Calgary (minus 3.9), and Edmonton (minus 2.9).

CREA : Average Selling Price for Canadian Homes Down 5.5% from January 2018 by The Canadian Press | CTV News