Almost one-fifth of Canadians want home prices to go down sharply

The recent poll by Angus Reid shows that one in five Canadians hope for a sharp drop in real estate prices. Such results point to growing frustration among those who would like to enter Canada’s red hot housing market.

It looks like Canadians are divided when it comes to the issue of housing prices and their desirable future: 40% of respondents want prices to go up even higher, 39% hope for a decline, while 21% don’t want any changes.

The survey says 22% out of those hoping for a drop, would like to see a 30% decline or even a larger change. Such a correction would have a huge influence on the entire national economy, which depends on the real estate sector so much. At the same time, 14% want the same change, but in the opposite direction.

The poll results appear amid the on-going record growth of home prices, supported by the combination of historically low interest rates and a remote work tendency. Recently, Rosenberg Research Chief Economist David Rosenberg called the housing price growth in Canada “one of the largest bubbles on record.”

The report says half of the poll respondents consider real estate prices in their city to be unreasonably high, while 24% say the prices are also high, but it’s understandable with the market’s current dynamics in their region. Frustration is quite vivid outside the large cities: 41% of Canadians living in rural or small towns believe home prices are unreasonably high where they live.

In case of those who live in the Metro Vancouver area, the GTA, Montreal and Halifax, more than half noted the prices are even outrageously high. The number has doubled in Montreal since Angus Reid started asking this question in 2016.

In addition to it, many Canadians feel disappointed about how their federal and provincial governments coped with the affordability issue. Almost two-thirds of respondents say their provincial government hasn’t managed to help improve housing affordability.

There’s an intense discussion now on how policymakers should react to such a sharp prices increase. According to RBC Senior Economist Robert Hogue, the government should consider all possible options, even the principal residence exemption from the capital gains tax.

The online poll was conducted by Angus Reid among 5,004 Canadians during the period from February 26 to March 3. ​