Alberta set to lead gains for home sales

Alberta will see the largest percentage increase in Canadian home sales in 2017 but will remain below the 10-year average for the province.

An updated outlook from the Canadian Real Estate Association shows a 1.5 per cent decrease to 527,400 sales nationally in 2017 but highlights sharp region disparity.

In British Columbia, CREA expects a decline of 9 per cent compared to the record high of 2016 and Newfoundland & Labrador is projected to slip 11.7 per cent. Saskatchewan, Ontario and PEI are all expected to see lower sales (declines of 4.4, 2.1 and 5.3 per cent respectively).

Alberta’s 10.2 per cent forecasted gain in sales is the only double-figure increase expected, with smaller gains in activity for Manitoba (+0.3 per cent), Quebec (+3.6 per cent) and New Brunswick (+1.9 per cent). Activity in Nova Scotia is projected to be flat (-0.4 per cent).

The national average price is forecast to rise by 7.4 per cent to $526,000 in 2017. Ontario is forecast to post the only large average price gain in 2017 (+16 per cent), which would nonetheless represent a moderation from where it is currently for the year-to-date.

For 2018, sales are forecast to slip 0.8 per cent nationally to 523,200 units while prices are expected to gain 1.8 per cent to $535,400.

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