Carlos Osorio via Getty Images A for sale sign outside a rowhouse in Toronto. After showing signs of a rebound over the spring and summer months, Canada's national housing market has slipped back into downturn mode, two new reports released Thursday show.

After showing signs of a rebound over the spring and summer months, Canada's national housing market has slipped back into downturn mode, two new reports released Thursday show. Sales of existing homes slipped 1.6 per cent in October, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association, marking the second straight month of declining sales. Sales were 3.7 per cent lower than they were in the same month a year earlier. Look: Canada's most expensive condo (story continues below)

The national average price came in at $496,800, down 1.5 per cent from a year earlier. The real estate group's home price index showed prices falling in seven of 18 markets measured, all of them in Western Canada and notably including Greater Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.

CREA The home price index from the Canadian Real Estate Association.

"National sales activity lost momentum in October," Gregory Klump, CREA's chief economist, said in a statement. "In part, this reflects waning activity among some urban centers in Ontario's Greater Golden Horseshoe region and the absence of an offsetting rise in sales in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia." But the balance between sales and listings in these markets "point to stable prices or modest gains," Klump added. Earlier on HuffPost Canada: U.S. vs. Canadian Real Estate: Who Won And Who Lost?

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Vancouver Condos Boom, Toronto Houses Swoon In 'Fickle' Housing Market That's not the case for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, where the sales-listings balance "indicates a weak pricing environment for homeowners who are looking to sell." But another measure of Canadian house prices — the Teranet/National Bank house price index — shows much more widespread price declines across the country. The price index fell in 10 of 11 major metro areas covered in October, with only Montreal eking out a small gain.

Teranet/National Bank The Teranet/National Bank house price index for October, 2018.