Home resales hit new high in 2002 By TERRY WEBER Globe and Mail Update Home resales in Canada set a new record in 2002 with selling prices also tapping new highs, as solid consumer confidence and low mortgage rates continued to underpin activity despite declines in the final months of the year, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Wednesday. In 2002, major market home sales through the Multiple Listing Service hit 296,221, up 10.2 per cent from last year's record level. For the year, new record sales levels were set in Calgary, Toronto, Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Outaouais, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax and St. John's. Bolstered by the hot market, prices for existing homes also managed a new annual record last year. The average annual selling price for home resales in 2002 was $202,366, exceeding the previous year's record price by 9.8 per cent. The annual gains came despite a late-year decline in resale activity, although the association also said it still expects sales of existing homes to remain near their current levels for the first half of next year. In December, home resales fell 3.2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the number of new listing rose by 2.9 per cent. The December decline comes after a drop of more than 5 per cent in resales a month earlier. But falling sales in the final month of the year, the association said, reflected "unusually strong" activity in December, 2001, rather than a significant weakening in monthly levels. "Mortgage rates are expected to remain near current levels in the coming months. Even if job growth shrinks over the winter as expected, it will take about six months before recent job gains will work their way through housing markets," Pierre Beauchamp, CREA's chief executive officer, said in the association's monthly report. "Accordingly, we expect resale housing activity to remain near current levels over the first half of the year. Moreover, average price increases are expected to moderate over 2003, so affordability will remain excellent." Although the spectre of a possible U.S.-led war in Iraq has cast a shadow over some aspects of Canada's potential for economic growth, Mr. Beauchamp said the real estate market should be able to sidestep those concerns, noting consumer confidence managed to hold its own in the months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "Consumers have show by their actions that they recognize the value of buying a new home while mortgage rates are low," he said.