“The Beginning of the End for Canada’s Housing Market Downturn” – that’s the title of an article RBC released this week. With this piece as our inspiration, we’re going to take a step back and look at Canada’s housing market on a macro level.

In the original article, they’re breaking down a phenomenon we’re seeing for the first time in a long time: over the last eight or so months, there were actually more resales than the year prior. This is something we hadn’t experienced since early spring, when the market started to slow down due to the interest rate hikes.

Now, if we focus on our local market in Montreal, we actually saw a decrease in sales compared to last year. On the flip side, though, most of Canada is actually up: the only three markets that are down are Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City. Toronto turned out to be a little bit flat, and everybody else is very much on the high end of things.

Price-wise, things are still on the decline across Canada, and we saw our peak pricing in February 2022. Calgary seems to be the exception to the rule: even though they have slowed down a little bit they’re still way above pre-pandemic levels, and prices have definitely held solid.

Across Canada, the markets are unlikely to heat up anytime soon. We’re going to have to wait until the spring before we see the market start to rise again, or at very least, see the bottom of the pricing backslide.

Want even more insight into the Canadian housing market? The LJ Realties team always has a finger on the pulse. Reach out anytime with your questions or concerns, and we’ll have an answer for you ASAP!