Rising mortgage rates are dampening home sales in British Columbia, a just-published real estate report suggests.
The trend of declining sales, noted in several of these monthly reports, continued into May in the province.
According to the B.C. Real Estate Association, there was a 35 per cent drop in sales last month compared to May 2021.
It’s been a sellers’ market in the province for some time, with a few short dips into what experts consider balanced, but sellers were faring better than ever in 2021. This year, the sales-to-active-listings ratio steeply plummeted when mortgage rates started to rise, though the BCREA still shows the ratio as more in favour of sellers, for now.
The association’s chief economist said the average five-year fixed mortgage rate in Canada this month is the highest its been in over a decade. Many buyers who don’t need to make a purchase aren’t rushing into sales, and are instead waiting to see what happens.
The BCREA said Monday there were more active listings this year, but still below what’s typical for a balanced market.
And what experts are seeing across B.C. varies greatly when looking at sales at a regional level. While unit sales are down provincially 35 per cent, some areas saw larger dips, and in one region – South Peace River – sales were actually up 40 per cent.
The region with the greatest decrease in sales in May was the Fraser Valley, where 54 per cent fewer units were sold in May 2022, compared to May 2021.
While sales are down and some listings are staying up longer, most buyers aren’t finding real estate deals.
Across the province, buyers are still paying more than they were this time last year, based on the latest data.
The average home price is now at $1 million for the province, an increase of 9.3 per cent from the previous May, when buyers were paying $915,392.
In Vancouver, that average is at $1,279,785, up 8.5 per cent year-over-year. In South Peace River there’s a similar increase, but the average is just $297,050.
It’s not only people actively involved in the market being impacted by the Canadian mortgage rates, either.
A new debt survey from Manulife Bank of Canada showed nearly one in four homeowners who aren’t looking to buy or sell said they’d be forced to put their homes back on the market if interest rates go up much further.
Nearly one-fifth of respondents said they already can’t afford their homes, and most Canadians don’t view homeownership as an affordable option in their communities.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
