OTTAWA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Home sales in Canada rose for the sixth consecutive month in August, up 1.4 percent month over month, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) on Monday.

Actual (not seasonally adjusted) sales activity rose five percent year on year.

The number of homes that traded hands was up from year-ago levels in most of Canada's largest urban markets, including Great Vancouver Area, Calgary, Winnipeg, the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa and Montreal.

The number of newly listed homes rose 1.1 percent in August. With sales and new supply up by similar magnitudes, the national sales-to-new listings ratio was 60.1 percent, little changed from July's reading of 60.0 percent.

"The mortgage stress-test has eased marginally and that's helped some potential homebuyers," Jason Stephen, CREA's president, said in a statement, "but the extent to which they're adjusting to it continues to vary by community and price segment."

The actual national average price for a home sold in August was about 493,500 Canadian dollars (about 372,600 U.S. dollars), up 3.9 percent from the same month last year.

Excluding the Greater Toronto Area and Greater Vancouver Area, the most expensive real estate markets in Canada, the national average price was less than 393,000 Canadian dollars (roughly 296,700 U.S. dollars), while the year-over-year gain was 2.7 percent.

CREA statistics showed considerable price variations across the country, with declines in western Canada and price gains in eastern Canada. Enditem

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