Canadian Housing Market Trends February 2023

As home prices go up a lot each month and sales go back to what they were in February 2018 and February 2019, the Canadian housing market may be showing signs of coming back to life. In February 2023, the average Canadian home cost $662,437, an 8% increase from the previous month. Since June 2022, the average Canadian home price has not been this high. In fact, the average provincial home price increased month-over-month in every province.

Yet, the national average home price is 19% lower year-over-year, a holdover from February 2022, when the Canadian housing market peaked. The price drop may be because interest rates in Canada have been going up over the past year. With 29,569 transactions nationwide in February 2023, sales are down 40% year-over-year. This is a 41.6% gain over the previous month, when Canadian home sales reached their lowest level in 14 years.

The MLS Benchmark Price, which measures the price of a “typical” house in Canada, was $715,400 in February 2023. This is a 16% decline from the same time last year, but a 0.2% gain over the prior month. This is the first month since March 2022 in which the benchmark price has increased. Since March 2022, the Bank of Canada has raised mortgage and prime rates several times. This has made it harder for Canadians to buy homes.

Ontario

In February 2023, the average Ontario home price was $865,279, a fall of 20% year-over-year but a significant increase of 8% month-over-month. With the exception of British Columbia, Ontario is the only province in Canada where home prices went up more than 8% in one month. The monthly average home price increase in British Columbia was 8%.

In February 2023, the average price of a home sold in the Greater Toronto Area was $1,095,617. This was 18% less than the same time last year, but 5.5% more than the previous month. Greater Toronto Area home sales in February were down 47% year-over-year, totaling 4,783 transactions. This amounts to about 16 percent of all Canadian home sales this month.

The average price of a house in Hamilton fell by 21% from one year to the next, while prices in Brampton fell by 24% from one year to the next. Elsewhere in the GTA, the average property price in Oshawa has decreased by 30% year-over-year. In comparison to the previous year, the average sold price in Mississauga fell by 18%, while the average property price in Ottawa fell by 16%. The average sales price in the London real estate market fell by 25% annually.

British Columbia

The costliest domestic market in Canada is the province of British Columbia. In the month of February 2023, the average price of a house in British Columbia was $941,573, representing an annual decline of 15% and a month-over-month rise of 8%.

According to annual decreases in home prices of 27% and 28%, respectively, the Fraser Valley and Abbotsford are the areas of British Columbia with the most volatile housing markets. Victoria’s property values have dropped by 9% in the past year, bringing the price to $946,196. A 9% annual decline brought the average home price in Greater Vancouver down to $1,220,469 in February 2023 from the previous year’s figure.

Quebec

In February 2023, the typical price of a home in Quebec was $436,800, representing a 6% drop from the previous year’s average. In addition to that, there is a 5% price hike per month. There was an annual decline of 8% in Montreal’s house prices, but there was a monthly rise of 1%. The current average selling price of a property in Montreal is $535,190.

Atlantic Canada

According to the data provided by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the cost of real estate has started to go up in a number of regions throughout Ontario and Atlantic Canada. In February 2023, the average price of a house on Prince Edward Island was $377,343. This was a 6% increase from the previous year and a 3% increase from the previous month. The price of a home in St. John’s, Newfoundland, rose by 1% from the previous month and by 6% from the previous year to reach $281,918.

The Prairies

In February 2023, the average price of a home in Alberta was $427,694, representing an 11% decrease year-over-year. The annual average price of a property in Saskatchewan dropped by 3%, coming in at $290,661, while the annual average price of a home in Manitoba dropped by 11%, coming in at $324,025. Month over month, housing costs in Alberta go up by 2%, while those in Saskatchewan and Manitoba rise by 4% and 1%, respectively.

From one year to the next, the main urban centers of the Prairies have seen alterations that are similar to one another. The price of a home in Calgary has decreased by 7.5% annually and 1% monthly, coming in at $506,685, while the price of a home in Edmonton has decreased by 10% annually, coming in at $37,285. The annual cost of a home in Winnipeg has decreased by 3.5%, bringing it down to an average of $349,490.

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