A new Re/Max housing market outlook report expected average home prices in Canada expected to remain flat for the rest of 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward)
A higher interest rate environment and lack of inventory will continue to weigh on the housing market in the fall, according to a new Re/Max housing market outlook report, with average home prices in Canada expected to remain flat for the rest of 2023.
The report said interest rates and inventory levels will likely result in a softer market for the remainder of the year, something some Canadians may look to take advantage of going into 2024, says Re/Max Canada president Christopher Alexander.
“If the fall market is an early indicator for 2024 activity, we may see a very active first quarter as buyers and sellers take advantage of easing prices into the earlier part of next year,” he said in a statement.
“While we wait for governments to implement a tangible national housing strategy to boost Canada’s supply of both affordable and diverse housing, the market is starting to ease in some regions. This is bringing some much-needed relief from the sky-high prices we’ve experienced over the past couple of years.”
Still, while the national average home price is expected to be flat, some regions across the country will not see reprieve from higher prices. The report estimates that 44 per cent of housing markets in Canada are expected to be sellers’ markets through the remainder of the year, while the rest are a mix of balanced and buyers’ markets.
Many prospective buyers and sellers appear to be waiting on the sidelines to see how the interest rate environment plays out. According to a Leger survey commissioned by Re/Max as part of the report, 33 per cent of Canadians interested in buying or selling a home in the next 12 months said they would wait to see how interest rate changes play out before buying.
Where home prices will rise and fall across Canada
In Western Canada, the majority of markets are expected to see average residential sale prices to increase in the fall by between 0.7 per cent and 4.5 per cent. The regions that are expected to see price increases include Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer and Winnipeg. At the same time, the Greater Vancouver Area and Kelowna in B.C. are expected to see sales soften by between two and three per cent.
In Ontario, 53 per cent of the market will likely be sellers’ markets through the fall, while 40 per cent will be balanced and just seven per cent are expected to be buyers’ markets. Areas that are expected to see prices rise include Burlington (up 1 per cent), Lakelands and Oakville (up 2 per cent), York Region (up 2.2 per cent), the Greater Toronto Area (up 2.5 per cent) and Sudbury (up 5 per cent.) Seven regions are expected to see home prices decrease through the rest of the year, including Hamilton, Ottawa and Windsor (down 2 per cent), North Bay (down 3 per cent), Kitchener-Waterloo (down 4 per cent), Durham Region and Peterborough (down 5 per cent).
In Atlantic Canada, Halifax and the Charlottetown Area will see prices fall between one and two per cent, while prices are expected to increase three per cent in Moncton. Most markets in the region are considered sellers’ markets, Re/Max said, with the exception of Charlottetown which is considered balanced.
Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
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.
