Homes sales continued to sag in the Greater Toronto Area in October, while the average selling price stayed flat as fewer new listings hit the market, data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) showed on Thursday.

Toronto area home sales fell 49.1% in September from a year ago and edged down 1.5% from September, the data showed. New listings were down 11.6% on the year and down 7.5% month-over-month.

The average selling price dropped 5.7% on the year, but was virtually unchanged from September at C$1.09 million ($797,717).

"The persistent lack of inventory helps explain why the downward trend in home prices experienced in the spring has flattened over the past three months," TRREB said in the release.

The Bank of Canada last week hiked its policy rate by 50-basis points to 3.75%, a 14-year high, and signaled its tightening campaign was nearing its peak, though it was not there yet.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales rose 0.2% in October from September, while prices were flat, TRREB said. ($1 = 1.3664 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by Sandra Maler)