Multiethnic couple considering investment real estate purchase consulting realtor, interracial family listening attentively to mortgage broker thinking of getting bank loan for buying new home house
© Aleksandr Davydov / 123RF Stock Photo

The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales in July rose 12.6% compared with the same month last year.

The increase came as sales were up in most of the country’s largest markets, including the B.C.’s Lower Mainland, Calgary, Edmonton, the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton-Burlington, Ottawa and Montreal.

On a month-over-month basis, sales were up 3.5% compared with June.

The increase in sales came as the number of newly listed homes edged back by 0.4% in July.

The national sales-to-new listings ratio tightened to 59.8% last month from 57.6% recorded in June.

The national average price of a home sold in July was just under $499,000, up 3.9% from the same month last year.