January existing home sales rose 58 per cent: CREA

OTTAWA - Canadian home resales made a rebound last month and lifted from the lowest levels in a decade, which were set a year earlier.

The Canadian Real Estate Association says 25,671 homes were sold across the country in January.

That's up 58 per cent from the same month in 2009, when the global credit crunch pounded consumer confidence and dried up buying and lending activity.

The national average price for homes listed on CREA's Multiple Listing Service was $328,537, up 19.6 per cent from a year before.

However, compared month-over-month, seasonally adjusted home sales were down 2.8 per cent from the strong levels reported in December.

Nearly half of the drop was linked to a slowdown in housing sales in Ontario.

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  An RBC-Pembina report finds that the demand for detached and semi-detached single-family homes in desirable GTA neighbourhoods has exceeded supply and caused home prices to go up.