The number of house sales in Canada fell by 1.4% between August and September, the first monthly fall since the beginning of the year, according to the latest data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

The data also showed that the number of newly listed homes declined by 1.6% from August to September, while the national average sales price rose 5.9% on an annual basis, compared to September 2013.

A breakdown of the figures found that activity was down in about 60% of all local housing markets in September, led by monthly declines in Calgary, Edmonton, Central Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, London and St. Thomas, Windsor-Essex, and Ottawa.

Home sales rose on a month on month basis in Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, the Okanagan region, Mississauga, Durham and York regions of the Greater Toronto Area, Sherbrooke, and the Northern region of Nova Scotia.

“Affordably priced single family homes are in short supply in some of Canada’s hottest housing markets, which contributed to the monthly decline in national sales activity in September,” said CREA president Beth Crosbie, who added, “that said, there are other markets with ample supply but sellers there are holding firm on price. There is a lot of variation in housing market trends depending on the type of housing, neighbourhood and price segment.”