According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, housing markets have cooled, but have stabilized across the country over the last quarter. Despite a 6.2% quarterly decrease in home prices across Canada, prices are still up on a year over year basis. Moreover, the prices have been hit hardest in major metropolitan areas, especially in Western Canada. General feedback from realtors and mortgage brokers in the Waterloo region report that although housing activity is down slightly, we have not experienced, or are not forecasted to experience a significant housing price decline. Accordingly, Calvin Lindberg, President of The Canadian Real Estate Association states,
"Informed buyers and informed sellers look at the facts. And the facts right now indicate the real estate resale market is stabilizing in many markets."
"There have also been a number of initiatives that will have an impact going forward, including the government’s decision to invest $25 billion in insured mortgage pools, the recent drop in the Bank of Canada rate, and the new rules reducing the maximum amortization to 35 years instead of 40," the CREA President adds. Those new mortgage rules go into effect October 15th. "The third quarter MLS® statistics and these developments are more factors showing the Canadian market is not following U.S. housing trends."
So while we are not currently enjoying the growth of the last few years, there is peace of mind for growth to resume in the mid term. Stay tuned for reporting on the local KW CMHC report of housing trends, which will be released some time in the next few weeks.
Comments