OTTAWA (August 16, 2010) – The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) says national home sales activity continued to trend down in July 2010. The decline was almost entirely the result of fewer sales in British Columbia and Ontario. A slowdown in demand in these two provinces had been widely expected in July, as many purchases were brought forward into the first half of the year in advance of the introduction of the HST. [...]
Notes slowing global economic growth The Bank of Canada increased the target for its trend-setting overnight lending rate on July 20, 2010, raising it by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.75 per cent. The increase follows on the heels of an equal interest rate increase in June 2010, when it was raised for the first time since 2007 [...]
Statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show that the number of newly listed homes and sales activity declined in June 2010. Seasonally adjusted national home sales activity via the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) Systems of Canadian real estate Boards receded 8.2 per cent in June from the previous month. Led by lower activity in Toronto and Calgary, sales declined in almost 70 per cent of local markets [...]