The price of a Canadian #home increased a modest 1.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2019, largely due to price appreciation in #Ontario.
According to the Royal LePage House Price Survey, released on Wednesday, low interest rates and record low unemployment levels have also helped slightly boost sales in the quarter, with the aggregate price of a home in Canada rising to $621,696.
“We now have evidence of a sustained market recovery in the nation’s largest market, and signs of a price floor in other regions hit hard by the eighteen month-old housing correction,” Phil Soper, president and chief executive of Royal LePage, said in a statement.
“Only in the West do we see a significant number of home buyers remaining on the sidelines, depressing sales volumes and causing prices to sag.”
The survey said #price increases in Ontario “heavily influenced” national results, as a strong job market and an influx of new residents to the Greater Toronto Area helped fuel demand.
Home prices in Toronto increased 4.3 per cent year over year in the second quarter, while prices in the GTA jumped 2.6 per cent. Ottawa also posted a strong increase, with house prices jumping 6.2 per cent.
“Ontario is tracking in the middle of the pack in terms of economic development overall, but when it comes to consumers it’s very much a good story, because so many people are working,” Soper said.
“The other thing that plays into this is an extremely low residential vacancy rate and the continued fact that move immigrants and interprovincial migrants end up in the Greater Toronto Area.”
At the same time, prices in the Greater Vancouver Area fell 4.1 per cent, declining for the second straight quarter on a year-over-year basis to $1,208,674. Soper pointed to the province’s housing market restrictions – including a foreign buyers tax – as a key factor weighing on market prices.
“The correction that started in the City of Vancouver has spread across the region with prices in Burnaby, Langley and Richmond falling 7.3 per cent, 4.4 per cent, and 4.1 per cent respectively,” the survey said.
While sales in the Vancouver area may have slowed, the market is still the most expensive in the country. For example, the aggregate home price in West Vancouver fell 7.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2019 when compared to last year, from $3,027,254 to $2,797,322.
House prices in Canada, by the numbers:
Here are aggregate housing prices from across the country as of the second quarter of 2019, according to Royal LePage.
Greater Montreal Area: $410,828 (+5.8%)
Greater Toronto Area: $841,729 (+2.6%)
Greater Vancouver: $1,208,674 (-4.1%)
St. John’s, Newfoundland: $316,187 (-7.2%)
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island: $295,699 (+3.0%)
Halifax, Nova Scotia: $328,023 (+3.4%)
Quebec City, Quebec: $301,233 (+0.3%)
Barrie, Ontario: $497,685 (-1.2%)
Brampton, Ontario: $712,371 (+3.3%)
Hamilton, Ontario: $540,899 (-0.9%)
London, Ontario: $406,000 (+9.6%)
Mississauga, Ontario: $744,622 (+1.6%)
Thunder Bay, Ontario: $256,783 (-0.8%)
Winnipeg, Manitoba: $305,612 (+4.0%)
Regina, Saskatchewan: $321,122 (-3.5%)
Calgary, Alberta: $460,089 (-5.0%)
Edmonton, Alberta: $371,106 (-0.9%)
Kelowna, British Columbia: $626,960 (-0.3%)
Richmond, British Columbia: $1,103,452 (-4.1%)
