National home sales rose 0.6 per cent month over month in September, according to statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Actual (not seasonally adjusted) sales activity was up 15.5 per cent year over year, with transactions rising in Canada’s largest urban markets, including the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, the Greater Toronto area (GTA), Hamilton-Burlington, Ottawa and Montreal.

“National sales activity has begun to rebound in recent months,” Jason Stephen, president of CREA, said in a news release. “That said, all real estate is local, so there’s a lot of variation in the strength of the rebound depending on the housing type, location and price segment.”

The number of newly listed homes dipped by 0.6 per cent. This small decline in new supply combined with the small increase in sales tightened the national sales-to-new listings ratio to 61.3 per cent in September, increasingly rising above its long-term average of 53.6 per cent. CREA reports this measure remains in balanced market territory, but is favouring sellers more than buyers.

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) climbed 1.3 per cent year over year in September. In recent months, home prices have been stabilizing in the Lower Mainland and the Prairies, where they were previously falling. Meanwhile, price growth has begun to rebound among markets in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, rejoining the ongoing price gains in housing markets located further east.

The national average home sale price was around $515,500 in September, up 5.3 per cent from the same month last year. This increase drops to 4.1 per cent for an average home sale price of less than $397,000 when excluding the Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver markets.