Tag Archives: Canada’s real estate market
Canada home resale price index up, no crash seen
* Month-on-month price rise of 0.3% in March
* Prices in four out of six metropolitan markets rise
* Canadian Real Estate Association says home market not headed for U.S.-style crash
Ka Yan Ng – Reuters
Canadian home resale prices climbed in March for an 11th straight month, but the gain was one of the smallest since prices began rising last year, according to a report on Wednesday.
The Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index, which measures price changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, showed overall prices rose 0.3% in March from February.
“The broad slowing of monthly gains is consistent with a general loosening of resale-market conditions across the country. For some months now, homes have been coming on the market faster than they have been selling,” the report said.
March’s gain was only a tick ahead of February’s 0.2% increase, which was the smallest monthly gain since the end of a recession-induced price slump.
The report tracks six metropolitan areas: Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax. The index has been rising for almost a year.
Prices in four of the markets rose from the month before, led by a 1.4% gain in Halifax. Montreal and Vancouver both advanced 0.6%, and Ottawa climbed 0.1%.
Toronto prices were little changed on the month.
Calgary fell for a third month in a row, with March prices down 0.3% from February.
Overall, the Teranet index showed prices were up 11.6% from a year earlier.
The index offers more evidence that Canada’s real estate market could soon start to cool, thanks to increased housing supply and interest rates that are widely expected to rise through the latter half of the year.
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) said last week that home resales slowed in April while new listings climbed.
CREA also released a report on Wednesday that said Canada would avoid a U.S.-style housing price retreat, mostly because of solid mortgage market trends.
The industry group described the warnings of a U.S. style correction — a massive oversupply due to a surge in mortgage defaults — as “overwrought.”
“Canada will avoid a massive oversupply of homes and a sharp drop in housing demand,” CREA’s chief economist, Gregory Klump, said.
“Canada’s solid mortgage market trends, conservative lending practices, and prudent borrowing by home buyers mean that Canada will avoid a U.S.-style housing price correction.”
CIBC World Markets said on Tuesday that “stabilizing forces are already at play” in the housing market, and that higher interest rates will lead to a modest decline in home prices, probably between 5% and 10%, in the coming year or two.
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Housing starts top 200,000 units
Home construction rose 1.3% in April as Canada’s real estate market continued to show signs of recovery
Financial Post
Home construction rose 1.3% in April as Canada’s real estate market continued to show signs of recovery.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Monday housing starts rose by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 201,700 units last month, up from a revised 199,200 units in March. The March number was previously estimated at 197,300 units.
Economists had expected starts to increase by around 205,000 units in April.
“Higher multiple starts were nearly offset by a decline in single starts and rural area starts in April, said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist. “As a result, total housing starts edged higher in April.”
Urban starts increased by 5.1% to 182,500 units on a seasonally adjusted annual rate in April. Multiple-unit construction was up 27.2% to 98,600, while single units fell 12.7% to 83,900.
In British Columbia, urban construction rose 16.4% and the Prairie region posted a 6.7% gain. Ontario was up 4.5% and Quebec rose 1.1%, while Atlantic Canada declined 3.3%.
“This was only the second time that the pace of housing starts has breached the 200K-units barrier since November 2008,” said Millan Mulraine, senior strategist at TD Securities.
Rural housing starts totalled 19,200 units in April, down from 25,600 the previous month.
“On the whole, the report underscores the strong recovery in Canadian home building activity, and the Canadian housing market more generally, as favourable buying conditions continue to spur housing demand,” Mr. Mulraine said.
“However, in the coming months we expect the pace of activity to moderate as higher interest rates and home prices, and tighter mortgage rules temper demand.”
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Housing pace cools on fewer condo starts
Tavia Grant – Globe and Mail
Canadian housing starts cooled for the first time this year in March as condominium construction eased.
Housing starts fell 1.5% last month to 197,300 units on a seasonally adjusted annual basis as builders broke ground on fewer multiple-unit dwellings, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said.
National starts have been generally rising in recent months as Canada’s real estate market steams ahead. While last month’s reading was little changed, several factors suggest the market remains strong: February’s revised numbers show starts climbed above the 200,000 mark for the first time since October, 2008. And single home construction hit a four-year high in March.
Multi-unit construction, meantime, tends to be volatile, with the March drop following a month-earlier increase.
The pace of housing starts – and broader real estate activity – will likely ease in the second half of this year as mortgage rates rise and new tax regimes and regulations dampen the market, economists said.
“It’s a bit hard to believe starts will hold at this level,” said Pascal Gauthier, economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Canada requires a pace of housing starts of about 175,000 to 185,000 to keep up with demographic demand, economists estimate.
In March, urban multiple starts fell 15.2% while single-family starts grew 6.9%.
The findings echo a report last week, showing building permits eased due to a lull in multiple-unit activity. Building permits fell for the second month in a row in February, sliding 0.5% in the month.
Single starts are now running at a four-year high. “Activity in this sector is now up 126% from the recession low and … has seen 11 consecutive monthly gains since bottoming in April last year,” Bank of Montreal economist Robert Kavcic said.
Starts fell 16.3% in British Columbia, 15.5% in Ontario, and 8% in Atlantic Canada. They rose 13.5% in Quebec and 7.3% in the Prairies.
Rural starts were estimated at 22,100 units in March.
Levels in January and February were revised upward. In January, they rose 7.5% to 189,000, and in February, the new reading shows they rose 6% to 200,400 units.
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Related posts:
- Canada December Housing Starts Rise to 174,500 Units Canadian housing starts increased to the highest level in 14...
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