Home sales across Canada declined marginally last month, continuing a trend toward a gradual cooling in what had been a red-hot market, the 91原创 Real Estate Association said Wednesday.
Overall, resale housing numbers fell just 0.01 per cent in July compared with June, although non-seasonally adjusted sales were up 3.3 per cent last month compared with July 2011, the association said.
Although prices were above year-ago levels in about seven of every 10 local markets, falling sales in Greater 91原创 drove the national average lower.
In Victoria, sales activity fell more than 21 per cent in July compared with June. There were 523 total sales in Greater Victoria last month compared with 637 in June, though there were also 523 registered sales in July 2011.
The average selling price for a single family home in Greater Victoria last month was $580,563, basically unchanged from June, but up from July 2011 when it was $574,717. The median price last month was $530,000, up from $520,000 in June of this year and basically the same as July 2011.
The average selling price for a condominium last month was $326,833, up from $316,569 in June and $315,371 last July. The median price last month was $278,000, up from $266,750 in June but down from $289,000 in July 2011.
The average selling price for a townhome last month was $379,569, down from $441,883 in June and $412,178 last July. The median price last month was $355,000, down from $392,800 in June and $385,000 in July 2011.
The 91原创 average price for homes sold in July 2012 was $353,147, down two per cent from the same month last year. Excluding Greater 91原创 from the calculation, the average was up 1.1 per cent from a year ago.
Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, described the July numbers as a porridge that "Goldilocks would approve."
"While sales activity and prices are no doubt simmering down, they are neither too hot nor too cold - perhaps just right," Porter wrote in a report.
The association said stable sales combined with fewer new listings kept the national housing market in balanced territory as the number of newly listed homes on its Multiple Listing Service fell 3.3 per cent from June to July and the national average home price was two per cent lower than in July 2011.
