Yesterday, we talked a bit about the housing markets in Vancouver and Calgary experiencing a bit of cooling. A follow up to that, from the National Post, is a report from Royal LePage (a major Canadian real estate franchiser) that’s interesting. While the cool off was a bit surprising to some in the industry, a lot of the fundamentals in Canada’s housing market remain quite stable.
According to the Royal Lepage report, although indeed both sales and prices are expected to fall in the coming months, house prices rose across Canada in the second quarter of 2010. Some of the increases were quite dramatic. For example, in Vancouver, Q2 home prices were up as much as 19.1%. Toronto was up an average of 7.7 to 11.4 per cent.
As for the future, well, it looks like a real cooling off is in store. We mentioned yesterday that folks are saying all the shopping has been done for the year. This is due to a combination of factors, but likely includes changes to mortgage lending rules and the launch of the HST in British Columbia and Ontario. (Although HST isn’t a factor in Alberta, and the number of sales there dropped off quite dramatically in June.)
Phil Soper, President of Royal LePage Real Estate said in a press release: “Home prices will remain flat or decline slightly in most cities, but will be more likely to hold their value or increase in energy-producing economies such as Alberta.”
So we’re talking reduced volumes, but in terms of equity and sales prices of homes, things look like they’ll be pretty stable-and 19% growth when averaged with flat growth makes up for quite a bit.
All this to say, there are many mixed messages out there, but if you’re in a buying mood, you may be apt to find some good deals in both your choice of real estate as well as your mortgage products. Talk to your mortgage broker.
