0818 ET - Momentum is building toward the Spring housing market in Canada, Scotiabank's Derek Holt says. Home sales dropped 5.8% on-month in January, the largest seasonally adjusted drop since last winter when sales sank about 10% in February 2025. The latest slump coincided with extreme cold and plenty of snow for parts of the country, and new listings for the month were up 7.3%. Holt says a combination of pent-up demand from first-time home buyers, pent-up demand from weather effects, lagging effects of trend job and income gains, low inflation-adjusted borrowing costs and cheaper homes could be powerful catalysts for a housing-market rebound. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 18, 2026 08:19 ET (13:19 GMT)
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