Toronto:- Existing home sales plunged 11% between June and July and have fallen 31% year over year, the Conference Board said in a report Friday.

July resales were below year-earlier levels in all of the 28 markets tracked by the board and at least 10% lower in 26 areas.

The worst declines were posted in the biggest markets, Toronto and Vancouver, where sales declined 13.6% and 20.1%, respectively.

Board economist Robin Wiebe said it is possible the drop came as a result of the application in Ontario and B.C of the harmonized sales tax in July. But aside from associated costs like legal fees, the HST applies only to sales of new homes and not resales, so it would have been more a matter of investor psychology than anything, he said.

Further, he added, the July numbers do not indicate a market in free fall but “a throttling back to less elevated levels,” from the red-hot pace witnessed earlier in the year.

“I’d be hesitant to predict another big drop ahead,” Mr. Wiebe said. “Canada’s economic conditions seem sound, so conditions are in place for balanced markets to persist.”

In July, sales in all 28 markets totalled 271,717 units, seasonally adjusted at an annual rate for a decline of 11%, the board said.

The sales action in July has in fact left markets balanced in all but four of the 28 markets. The remaining four — Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton and Regina — are now considered buyers’ markets.

The board’s numbers are in line with those released by the Canadian Real Estate Association in mid-August showing July sales fell 30% from a year ago.