Home prices continue to ease across Canada following record-high price gains last year, prompting one real estate agency to adjust its year-end forecast downward.
Royal LePage released its latest quarterly House Price Survey on Thursday morning.
It shows the aggregate price of a home in Canada stood at $774,900 in the third quarter.
While still well above pre-pandemic levels, the price fell by 4.9 per cent on a quarterly basis, marking the second consecutive quarterly decline recorded.
“September did not bring the typical seasonal lift in the number of homes trading hands in this country, a clear indication that our housing market continues to adjust to higher borrowing costs,” Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage, said in a news release.
“Home prices follow sales volume trends, which means we will see further softening in the final months of the year.”
Royal LePage’s revised outlook has national prices ending the year 0.5 per cent below 2021 levels.
Soper said home sales volumes have fallen in the face of economic uncertainty and rising rates, but so have the number of properties available to purchase.
“With demand and supply falling in tandem, there is limited downward pressure on prices,” he said.
“Canadian home values should end the year well above pre-pandemic levels, retaining much of the gains made during the real estate boom of 2020 and 2021.”
Of the report’s 62 regions, only four markets posted a quarterly aggregate home price increase in the third quarter: St. John’s, Charlottetown, Montreal South Shore, and Saskatoon.
Soper said many home buyers remain active in today’s market, despite sales volumes being well off the pandemic-fueled peak.
Some, he said, are motivated to transact before their locked-in mortgage pre-approval rates expire, while others are encouraged by a drop in home prices, the lack of bidding wars, and the ability to include conditions in purchase offers.
“At the first indication that interest rates have ended their climb and home prices have stabilized, I would expect a sharp increase in those entering the market as the need for housing has not diminished one bit,” said Soper.
You can view the house price numbers for all 62 regions included in the report by clicking here.
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