Home prices across Canada are expected to climb next year with expected Bank of Canada rate cuts poised to reinvigorate the housing market, according to a new report.
Royal LePage’s 2024 market survey 2024, released Thursday, predicts that home prices will make incremental gains in the first half of the year. Those gains will be followed by larger price increases in the second half of the year, spurred by expected interest rate cuts from the Bank of Canada after a historic rate-hiking cycle.
“We see 2024 as an important tipping point for the national economy as the majority of Canadians acknowledge that the ultra-low interest rate era is dead and gone,” Royal LePage CEO Phil Soper said in a press release on the research.
“We believe that the ‘great adjustment’ to tolerable, mid-single-digit borrowing costs will have a firm grip on our collective consciousness after only modest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada.”
WHERE ARE HOME PRICES HEADED?
Royal LePage is forecasting aggregate home prices in Canada will rise by 3.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2024 on an annual basis, followed by 0.2 per cent year-over-year increase in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, Royal LePage anticipates home prices will rise 3.3 per cent compared to the previous year, followed by a 5.5 per cent year-over-year bump in the fourth quarter, landing at a median home price of $843,684 — back to the highs reached during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Based on this forecast, by the end of next year, home prices will have essentially climbed back to their pandemic peak, reached in the first quarter of 2022,” the report said.
Single-family home prices are anticipated to rise six per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024 on an annual basis to $879,164, the report said, while condominium prices are expected to rise five per cent to $616,140 during that same period.
CALGARY SET FOR BIGGEST PRICE GAINS
Calgary home prices have risen in the second half of 2023 while prices declined in other markets, and Royal LePage expects this trend to continue next year.
The report predicts that Calgary aggregate home prices will outpace all major markets in 2024 and grow eight per cent to $711,612.
“Although activity has slowed in Calgary, home prices have not dipped like they have in other cities across Canada, due to a sustained shortage of supply,” Corinne Lyall, a broker and owner at Royal LePage Benchmark, said in the press release.
HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.
Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.
Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.
The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.
Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.
The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.
Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.
Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500
Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438
Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103
Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359
Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent
How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.
Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.
The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.
Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.
More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.
Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.
An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
