15 July 2019

Vancouver Island, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon and Moncton saw no price changes, while the Greater Vancouver Area, the Fraser Valley and Okanagan reported declines. These markets are facing excessive supply, just like Newfoundland and Labrador.

At the same time, prices were up in Ontario markets, including Barrie, Hamilton, Niagara, Guelph, Ottawa and Toronto, as well as Montreal. The market supply remains tight in those regions, particularly in the GTA.

“We can see a vivid difference between eastern and western Canada real estate markets,” – noted Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist.

“Although sales activity in Canada’s three westernmost provinces stopped deteriorating, still some time is necessary for supply and demand to return to a more balanced state”.

While the pace of home sales was close to the 10-year average in Canada, the activity is still lower than in 2015, 2016 and 2017, CREA noted. And it’s in spite of lower mortgage rates.

“In our opinion, home sales may keep rising in the second half of the year, supported by a strong job market, low borrowing costs, population growth, more time after the previous restrictive measures and new rules for first-time homebuyers,” – TD economist Rishi Sondhi believes.