OTTAWA -- The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales dropped 3.1 per cent in August from July for the fourth straight monthly decline.
The association says much of the move reflects the slowing activity in British Columbia's Lower Mainland, where a foreign buyer tax introduced last month has further slowed the market.
With the decline in August, national sales have dropped 6.9 per cent below the record set in April, but were still 10.2 per cent above August 2015.
Home prices were up from a year ago, with the average price of a home sold in August at $456,722, up 5.4 per cent from a year earlier. However, the association said it was the smallest increase since January 2015.
Excluding Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, the average price of a home sold in August was $357,033
The association's MLS home price index up 14.7 per cent year over year as Vancouver and Toronto also pulled up the average.
Along with lower sales, the number of newly listed homes dropped by 2.7 per cent in August compared with July to keep the sales-to-new listings ratio at what's considered a sellers market at about 62 per cent.
