<p>TORONTO – A record number of homes across the country were sold in March, although the Vancouver and Toronto markets saw declines from the previous month, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Friday.</p>
<p>The Ottawa-based group said about 60 per cent of all local markets showed an increase in transactions from February, including Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal and Victoria.</p>
<p>But sales in the Toronto area were down 1.8 per cent from February. The situation was slightly similar in Vancouver, where sales fell a more modest 0.3 per cent, but that contrasted with a national increase of 1.5 per cent.</p>
<p>March was the first full month where new federal rules intended to cool overheated markets were in effect. Under the changes, anyone buying a home that costs between $500,000 and $1 million face a minimum down payment of 10 per cent.</p>
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<p>The changes were aimed at slowing the torrid rise in prices in the red-hot markets of Toronto and Vancouver without hurting sales in other markets.</p>
<p>The national average price for homes sold through CREA members was $508,567, up 15.7 per cent from a year earlier — with a disproportionate impact from the Toronto and Vancouver area.</p>
<p>Excluding Canada’s two most expensive real estate markets, the national average price would be $366,950, up 10.4 per cent from March 2015.</p>
<p>The number of properties available for purchase fell 1.4 per cent in March compared with February — mostly because of the Greater Toronto Area and nearby Hamilton-Burlington.</p>
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