Home prices continue to fall in Calgary and Edmonton, according to the latest monthly report by the Canadian Real Estate Association.

In a report released Friday, the association said the benchmark price – which is the price of a typical home in the market – fell by 2.37 per cent in Calgary and by 2.36 per cent in Edmonton in October from year ago levels.

Calgary’s benchmark price sat at $416,00 for the month while for Edmonton it was $317,400.

The aggregrate price for Canada, which includes 19 major centres, was up 1.77 per cent across the country to $633,600.

MLS sales in the Calgary region of 1,846 rose by 10.1 per cent from a year ago while Edmonton region sales climbed by 7.3 per cent to 1,489. Across Canada, MLS sales of 44,499 increased by 12.9 per cent year-over-year.

CREA said home sales remained steady in October in Canada following a string of monthly increases that began in March. Activity is now almost 20 per cent above the six-year low reached in February but remains seven per cent below heights reached in 2016 and 2017.

“Steady national activity in October hides how the mortgage stress-test remains a drag on many local housing markets where the balance between supply and demand favours homebuyers in purchase negotiations,” said Jason Stephen, president of CREA, in a news release.

“It’s a full-blown buyer’s market or on the cusp of one in a number of housing markets across the Prairies and in Newfoundland,” added Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist. “Homebuyers there have the upper hand in purchase negotiations and the mortgage stress-test has contributed to that by reducing the number of competing buyers who can qualify for mortgage financing while market conditions are in their favour.”

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