Toronto home sales snap losing streak as lower prices entice buyers

TORONTO, April 7 (Reuters) - Greater Toronto Area home sales rose for the first time in six months in March in a sign that reduced prices have lured more homebuyers into the market, Toronto Regional Real Estate Board data showed on Tuesday.

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* Seasonally adjusted sales increased 1.4% last month fromFebruary to 4,546 units, marking the first increase sinceSeptember. * The board's home price index was down 0.6%month-over-month, after seasonal adjustment, at C$928,000($666,954), which was the 10th straight month of declines. * The Greater Toronto Area includes Toronto, Canada's mostpopulous city, and four surrounding regional municipalities. * "It's encouraging to see an uptick in March home salescompared to last month and last year," the board's president,Daniel Steinfeld, said in a statement. * "This suggests that an increasing number of GTA householdsare looking to take advantage of improved affordability as wemove into the spring market," Steinfeld said. * On a year-over-year basis, sales rose 1.7%, while newlistings declined 16.7% and the price index was down 7.4%.

($1 = 1.3914 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Fergal Smith in TorontoEditing by Matthew Lewis)

By Fergal Smith