The Canadian Real Estate Association says homes sales shrunk by 40 per cent in February compared with a year ago.

The association says February sales were comparable to what was recorded during the same month in 2018 and 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The year-over-year drop in home sales in February came as the national average sale price posted an 18.9 per cent decline compared with the all-time record in February 2022.

The real estate association says the actual average home price in Canada was $662,437 in February.

Compared with January, CREA says national home sales rose 2.3 per cent in February, powered by gains in Toronto and Vancouver home sales.

It says the number of newly listed properties dropped 7.9 per cent month over month.

Jill Oudil, chair of the real estate association, says February鈥檚 data suggests the potential of a more robust market to come.

鈥淏ut to repeat the bottom line from last month, we won鈥檛 know what the 2023 market has in store until the spring,鈥� she said in a statement.

鈥淲hile we鈥檙e not seeing it in the sales or listings data just yet, I would expect homeowners are getting properties ready for the market and prospective buyers are getting mortgage pre-approvals.鈥�

Shaun Cathcart, the association鈥檚 senior economist, said similarities between 2023 and 2019 continued to emerge in February, with sales up, the market tightening, and month-over-month price declines getting smaller.