Housing sales and prices were up across the country last month led by Calgary and Toronto, the Canadian Real Estate Association says.
Home sales rose 1.4 per cent between January and February, while national prices were up an average of two per cent compared to last year, CREA said in a release Thursday.
The average national selling price for homes in February was $372,763.
"In February 2011, the national average price was stretched upward by a spike in high-end home sales in some of Vancouver's priciest neighbourhoods, and a replay of that was not expected this year," said CREA chief economist Gregory Klump.
This year, other factors are keeping prices higher such as a tight balance between supply and demand in Toronto that continues to drive gains, particularly for single-detached properties, Klump said.
The association collects the statistics from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) of Canadian real estate boards and associations.
"The national rise in both sales activity and the number of newly listed homes beyond the normal seasonal increase provides clear evidence that Canadians are confident in housing market prospects," said association president Gary Morse.
Non-seasonally adjusted activity was up 8.6 per cent compared to February 2011, with 61,772 homes trading hands in the first two months of 2012, an increase of 6.7 per cent from the same period last year.
The number of new listings also got a bump of 1.9 per cent on a month-over-month basis in February, the highest level since May 2010, the association said.
That was led by a rebound in new listings in Toronto and Montreal, the country's two most active markets, offsetting a decline in Vancouver which ranks third overall in market activity.
Other cities leading in higher sales include Barrie, Ont., Quebec City, Saint John, N.B. and Halifax-Dartmouth, CREA said.
