The Canadian Real Estate Association says 135,182 homes were sold countrywide in the third quarter, up 18 per cent from a year earlier and the most ever for the period.

It's the biggest year-over-year increase since early 2002, the group said Thursday.

People walk past new homes for sale in Oakville, Ont., in April. Nationally, housing sales increased by 18 per cent during the third quarter, the CREA says. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Building on two previous quarterly increases, seasonally adjusted home sales on the agency's Multiple Listing Service now stands 48 per cent above the low reached in the fourth quarter last year.

Quarterly sales increases in Vancouver (34 per cent), Toronto (11 per cent), and Calgary (19 per cent) were the largest contributors to the national increase.

The rise in sales activity is combining with fewer new listings to draw down inventories and drive up prices, compared with year-ago levels, the association said.

There were 208,215 homes listed for sale on MLS in Canada at the end of September 2009, down 16 per cent from a year earlier.

That's the fifth consecutive year-over-year decline in active listings and the largest decline in more than six years, the association said.

On the price side, at $327,736, the average price of a home in Canada rose 11 per cent in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier.

The national average price continues to be skewed upward by a sharp rebound in activity at the higher end of the price spectrum in some of Canada’s priciest markets, the CREA said.

The national average price surpassed all previous monthly levels in September 2009, rising 13.6 per cent year-over-year to $331,602. July and August also posted new average price records.

Several provinces set price records for September. Ontario posted the highest average price on record in the province, at $326,698 — 10.7 per cent higher than the level during the same quarter last year.

Nationally, the number of months of inventory was 4.9 months in September, down slightly from August and well down from the recessionary peak of 12.8 months in January.