OTTAWA—The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) raised its home sales forecast Sept. 15 on the back of stronger-than-expected sales in recent months following a slow start to the year.
The association said sales through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) are now expected to total 475,000 homes for 2014, up from a June prediction of 463,400.
The new forecast would mean sales would be up 3.8 percent compared with 2013 and 2.5 percent higher than the previous forecast.
Regionally, CREA said the five provinces from Ontario and the West will show gains while the five eastern provinces will show declines.
The association said the frigid winter delayed the start to the 2014 spring home-buying season and helped boost sales in May and June.
“Although this boost was and still is expected to be transitory, sales have yet to show signs of cooling as activity strengthened slightly further over the summer,” CREA said in its updated forecast.
CREA said British Columbia is expected to lead the country with a gain of 11.9 percent over 2013 sales, followed by Alberta with a gain of 7.7 percent. Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario are expected to post small increases in the range of 1–2 percent.
Meanwhile, Quebec and New Brunswick are expected to post slightly lower sales this year, falling about 1 percent compared with 2013. Nova Scotia is expected to fall 3.9 percent, while Newfoundland and Labrador is forecast to slip 5.2 percent.
