国际英语新闻：Canada's housing sales activity higher than anticipated last year: CREA

OTTAWA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Due to stronger than projected sales activity in the fourth quarter, Canada's annual housing sales activity in 2010 was higher than anticipated, although volume was still below that of 2009, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) announced on Friday.

Some 447,010 homes traded over Canadian Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Systems last year, down 3.9 percent from the previous year. The annual average price for homes sold via the systems rose by 5.8 percent to 339,030 Canadian dollars (about 342, 662 U.S. dollars).

According to statistics released by the CREA, national home sales activity improved steadily over the second half of last year, with seasonally adjusted sales up 18.3 percent in December compared to the recent low reached in July.

As a result, seasonally adjusted activity in the fourth quarter rose 12.1 percent from third quarter levels, and was up less than one percentage point compared to second quarter activity.

"Overall sales activity has improved in recent months, but the upturn has been uneven among local markets," said CREA President Georges Pahud.

Actual (not seasonally adjusted) national sales activity via MLS Systems last month was down 14.4 percent compared to the record-setting December 2009, but still ran slightly ahead of the ten-year average for the month.

The CREA also said that the national average price for homes sold last month was 344,551 Canadian dollars -- stable with last October and November and up two percent from the previous December.

Canadians rushed into the market in late 2009 and early 2010 to take advantage of the historically low interest and mortgage rates. The market then plunged into a trough last summer.

"The hand off to 2011 for sales activity in the fourth quarter suggests that the continuation of low interest rates will further support the housing market," said CREA Chief Economist Gregory Klump.