January home sales were nearly 43% below the 10-year average for the month, although the number of homes listed for sale in the market, 7,478, ticked upwards from December (1.3%) and posted a sizeable 32.1% increase over January 2022.

Detached homes spent an average of 51 days on the market in January, according to REBGV, compared with 43 for townhouses and 42 for apartments.

The board’s director of economics and data analytics Andrew Lis said that market activity is generally quieter in January due to seasonality, with the subdued results coming as little surprise.

“With mortgage rates having risen so rapidly over the last year, we anticipated sales this month would be among the lowest in recent history,” he said in remarks accompanying the news release.

“Looking forward, however, the Bank of Canada has said that it will pause further rate increases as long as the incoming economic data continues to support this policy stance. This should provide more certainty for home buyers and sellers in the market.”