Toronto home sales fall for fifth straight month in October

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Greater Toronto Area (GTA) home sales fell in October for the fifth consecutive month as higher borrowing costs kept buyers sidelined, while the average price of a home was little changed.

Seasonally adjusted sales fell 5% in October from September, extending a string of declines since June, Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) data showed on Thursday.

Sales were also down on a year-over-year basis without adjusting for seasonal variation, falling 5.8% to 4,646 homes.

"Record population growth and a relatively resilient GTA economy have kept the overall demand for housing strong," TRREB President Paul Baron said in a statement.

"However, more of that demand has been pointed at the rental market, as high borrowing costs and uncertainty on the direction of interest rates has seen many would-be home buyers remain on the sidelines in the short term."

Last week, the Bank of Canada left its benchmark interest rate on hold at a 22-year high of 5% but left the door open to more tightening to tame inflation that could exceed its target for another two years.

The average price of a home was up 3.5% compared to the same month last year at C$1,125,928 ($813,179) but was down 15.6% from the February 2022 peak. The seasonally adjusted average price was little changed month-over-month, edging up 0.2% after three straight months of declines.

New listings rose 38% year-over-year to 14,397 homes but on a seasonally adjusted basis were down 2.9% compared to the previous month, the first such decline since March. ($1 = 1.3846 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Fergal Smith; editing by Diane Craft)