Price of the average Canadian home up 3% from last year
Even though sales are down 11% from this time last year, the average price of a Canadian home has risen by 3% from last September. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, the deceleration in rising home costs is thanks in part to the softening prices in Ontario's "Golden Horseshoe" area.
"National sales appear to be stabilizing," president of the CREA, Andrew Peck, said in a statement. "While encouraging, it's too early to tell if this is the beginning of a longer-term trend."
Toronto and Vancouver still dominate the bulk of the conversation when it comes to the Canadian housing market. Large gains can still be found in both areas and have greatly influenced the national numbers.
"The national result continues to be influenced heavily by trends in Toronto and Vancouver, but housing market conditions vary widely across Canada," Peck said Friday.
Both Toronto and Vancouver have taken steps to help cool the scorching real estate market. Both hoped that by imposing a foreign buyers tax, the housing prices would begin to taper off. And while at first blush it looked like it had worked in Vancouver, prices have begun to rise again.
"The Greater Vancouver area, in particular, is once again showing signs of heating conditions with sales up strongly and prices nearing record levels," said TD Bank economist Michael Dolega of the CREA numbers. "Still, we expect rising mortgage rates will take some steam out of this market given the affordability pressures, with slower price growth on the horizon."
Vancuover, who implemented the changes back in 2016, has had time to watch the market adjust, Toronto however is still waiting to see how the April 2017 changes will affect the numbers.
"Further tightening of federal regulations aimed at cooling housing markets in Toronto and Vancouver risks creating collateral damage in markets elsewhere in Canada," said CREA's chief economist, Gregory Klump.