16 January 2014

According to CREA Chief Economist, Gregory Klump, the forecasts for 2014 may depend greatly on potential mortgage rule changes. In his opinion, 2014 may benefit from healthy job growth.

“As you can see, national sales activity haseased recently, and it’s expected to stay below September levels this year,” – notedMr.Klump. “In the same time, without new mortgage rule changes, sales in 2014 may be higher than in 2013, in case the market demand remains at current levels, as improving economic situation and higher job growth may offset the influence of a potential mortgage rate hike.”

The current homeowners will be glad to know that national sales price was up by 10.4% on a year-over-year basis, and the average sale price was $389,119 in December.

Nevertheless, MLS believes the Home Price Index is a more realistic indicator of price trends, as it’s not so heavily affected by the sales activity changes as the average price. The Aggregate Composite MLS HPI was up by 4.31%. It should also be noted that Calgary showed 8.74% price growth, while in Greater Toronto it was 6.31%.