Canada: October home sales were a treat but maybe also a trick

Existing homes sales rose 1.3% in October on a seasonally-adjusted basis – the first increase since February 2022. Meanwhile, the average sale price of an existing home fell by 0.6% to $644K in October – the seventh decline in the past eight months. The number of new listings rose 2.2% following three consecutive monthly declines. As expected, existing home sales picked up modestly in October. The October housing data leaves us cautiously optimistic that the worst may behind us but the correction still has a way to go. This will complicate the Bank’s job as we approach the December interest rate announcement. But it’s still early in the quarter, so we’ll reserve judgment on what it means for monetary policy until we see more data.