Home sales in February fell to their lowest level in more than a year as homebuyers stayed on the sidelines amid the uncertainty created by the trade war with the United States, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Monday.
Home sales in February were down 10.4% compared with the same month last year, while on a seasonally adjusted basis, home sales were down 9.8% compared with January.
CREA says it was the lowest level for home sales since November 2023 and the largest month-over-month drop since May 2022, which is when the Bank of Canada started a series of aggressive rate hikes to fight inflation.
“By February, people had settled into a worried acceptance to the fact that the trade war was reality, and we saw volumes start to decline.”