Average house price in Canada hit $668,754 in July

July home sales saw the largest year-over-year increase in more than two years, but were little changed from June, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Tuesday.

July home sales saw the largest year-over-year increase in more than two years, but were little changed from June, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Tuesday.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the number of homes that sold during the month edged up 8.7 per cent from the prior July to 41,186.

Seasonally-adjusted sales amounted to 40,028, a 0.7 per cent drop from June. Sales were up in July in more than half of all local markets, but a decline in the Greater Toronto Area, a typically hot housing market, tipped the national figure "slightly negative," CREA said.

The association has seen signs of stabilizing across the national housing market since May as prospective buyers acclimatize to a higher interest rate environment than many were anticipating.

"July continued along the same trend we've seen emerge in recent months, with sales levelling off and new listings returning in more normal numbers," Larry Cerqua, CREA's chair, said in a press release.

"This has been giving buyers more choice and balancing the market, which as of July was also slowing the rate of price growth."

The average home price was $668,754, up 6.3 per cent from a year earlier.

On a seasonally-adjusted basis, the average was $690,867, a two per cent slide from June.

Meanwhile, new listings ticked down 0.2 per cent from last year to 73,215 and rose 5.6 per cent on a seasonally-adjusted basis to 67,636.