TORONTO (Bloomberg) — Canada's economy grew 0.2 percent in October, less than economists expected, as gains in real estate services and utilities offset a drop in mining output.

A jump in home sales led a 7.2 percent gain in the value of services from real estate agents and brokers, while unusually cold weather raised output at utilities by 2.4 percent, Statistics Canada said yesterday in Ottawa. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had predicted that overall gross domestic product would expand 0.3 percent, according to the median of 20 estimates.

The report signals Canada, the US's biggest trading partner, is emerging from its first recession since 1992, after output shrank for three straight quarters through June. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has budgeted a record deficit to help spur growth and Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has pledged to keep his key interest rate at a record low through June unless the inflation outlook shifts.

"The Canadian economy is slowly emerging from the deep economic recession, supported in large part by the boom in housing market activity and strong consumer spending," Millan Mulraine, an economist with TD Securities in Toronto, said in a note to clients before the report. The "recovery should remain intact, as the significant monetary and fiscal policy stimulus administered to the Canadian economy gathers traction, though the recovery is likely to be both slow and fragile."

Retailing rose 0.3 percent in October, wholesaling rose 0.2 percent, and construction rose 0.1 percent, Statistics Canada said. Mining and energy exploration declined 0.4 percent, while finance and insurance fell 0.7 percent.

Gross domestic product in October was 3.2 percent less than a year earlier, Statistics Canada said.

Output, which shrank at annual rates of 6.2 percent and 3.1 percent in the first two quarters of 2009 before expanding at a 0.4 percent pace in the third quarter, will expand at a 3.3 percent pace in the fourth quarter, according to the median of 12 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. That would be the fastest since the second quarter of 2007.