A slow start to the year, maybe.

The GAR has just sent out January sales figures. January closings are down, but bear in mind that closings usually lag about 30 days from accepted offers, due to time spent drafting and negotiating contracts, inspections, and meeting mortgage contingencies. So I'd consider this a picture of December's market: we'll have to wait until mid-March to get meaningful sales statistics from January.

Same caveat as above: take these figures back a month to get an idea of when buyers are busy. Except for June and July — a lot of spring sales are pushed forward to those months, when school ends.