OTTAWA - The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold by its members last month was down 5.2 per cent from January 2012, although about half of the country's local markets saw an improvement from December.
The January national average sales price compiled by the industry group was $354,754, up two per cent from a year.
CREA says sales in the ultra-expensive Vancouver area were down year-to-year, skewing the national averages.
Excluding Vancouver from the mix, CREA's national average price would have been up 3.3 per cent.
Vancouver and Toronto were among the local markets that saw improved sales activity last month, compared with December.
In the Greater Toronto area, there was a month-to-month increase of 5.6 per cent and in the Greater Vancouver area the increase was 4.7 per cent.
Among the cities with softer sales were Ottawa, the Fraser Valley in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, Montreal, Regina, London and St. Thomas in southwestern Ontario and Calgary.
