Canadian House Market August 2022

The housing market in Canada had a modest price gain in August 2022, the first monthly increase in the average house price since February. Canada’s average house price in August 2022 was $637,673, an increase of 1% from the previous month, following five consecutive monthly decreases. Nationally, August 2022 sales are down 24.7% year-over-year to around 38,310 purchases. It remains to be seen if Canada’s housing market prices are stabilizing after reaching an all-time high in February 2022, as the average house price remained 4% lower year-over-year. Rapidly increasing Canadian mortgage rates, driven on by Bank of Canada rate rises, are one of the issues that have frightened homebuyers in Canada. Even though Canada’s inflation rate has slowed down in recent months, the high levels of inflation in the country still put pressure on policymakers to raise interest rates.

In comparison to the high of $816,720 in February 2022, the average selling price in Canada is now 22% lower. This indicates that the average Canadian house price has decreased by 22%, or over $179,000, in the last six months. The MLS Benchmark Price, however, continues to see a yearly price rise. In August 2022, the benchmark house price in Canada climbed by 7% year-over-year to $760,400 but decreased by 3% month-over-month. If this pattern continues, the benchmark house price will see negative yearly growth in the next few months. While the average Canadian house price is down 4% year-over-year, housing markets throughout the nation have performed inconsistently. Some communities continued to see monthly drops in property prices and sales, while others saw monthly rises.

Ontario

In Ontario, the average house price dropped 0.2% month-over-month to $829,739 in August 2022, continuing the province’s downward trend in home prices. This indicates that property prices in Ontario have decreased on a monthly basis for the last six months and are currently lower than they were a year ago. Even though the 0.6% year-over-year drop in Ontario house prices isn’t as big as Canada’s 4% year-over-year drop, it’s still notable because it’s the largest housing market in Canada to see negative home price growth.

The Toronto housing market had an unexpected increase in sales and average prices compared to the previous month, a turnaround that provides some support for the city’s house values as they attempt to avoid falling into negative yearly change territory. In August 2022, the average price of a house sold in the Greater Toronto Area was $1,079,500, showing a rise of 1% year-over-year. August house sales in the Greater Toronto Area are down 35% year-over-year with 5,627 transactions. When compared to the housing markets of other Ontario cities, Hamilton’s average house prices increased by 2% year-over-year, while Brampton’s home prices decreased by 4%. The average sales price in Mississauga grew by 12 percent over the last year, while property prices in Ottawa increased by 5 percent.

British Columbia

British Columbia is the most costly province in which to purchase a property in Canada. The average price of a property in British Columbia was $918,378 in August 2022, an increase of 2% year-over-year but a decrease of 0.55% from the previous month. This is still greater than the average Ontario house price of $829,739. The average house price in Powell River, British Columbia, has increased by 37% year-over-year, while the average home price in Victoria, British Columbia, has increased by 12% year-over-year. Greater Vancouver’s average house price was $1,195,428 in August 2022, an increase of 2% year-over-year. The average house price in Surrey increased by 4% year-over-year to $1,124,800, while prices in the Fraser Valley decreased by 0.5% year-over-years to $979,584.

Quebec

The average house price in Quebec was $447,610 in August 2022, a 5% increase from the previous year. Montreal’s average house sale price is up 4% annually to $564,683, while Quebec City’s is up 5% annually to $352,265. For the second quarter of 2022, average pricing information is available for different regions of Quebec. Trois-Rivières had an average house sale price of $312,089 in the second quarter of 2022, followed by Saguenay at $267,907, Sherbrooke at $437,491, and Gatineau at $483,326.

Source: https://wowa.ca/reports/canada-housing-market