Residential property values decline once more as sellers begin to withdraw.
In November, national housing prices experienced a renewed drop, signaling a trend of sellers stepping back from the real estate market following a surge in property listings earlier in the autumn.
As per the data unveiled by the Canadian Real Estate Association on December 14, the average home price decreased by 0.4 percent month-over-month, settling at $644,107.
Meanwhile, the MLS Home Price Index (HPI) recorded a 1.1 percent decline from October, although it still maintained a 0.6 percent increase from the same period last year.
In November, sales experienced a downturn, with a 0.9 percent decrease compared to October, marking the smallest monthly decline since July. Additionally, the count of newly listed properties dropped by 1.8 percent.
“While it was clear from about August that a lot of buyers were probably going to head back to the sidelines until at least next spring, a surprising number of sellers nonetheless chose to try their luck this fall,” CREA’s senior economist Shaun Cathcart said in the report. “Not getting offers they were willing to accept, it’s looking like many of them are also now resigned to hunker down until next year. It’s probably a good move given that recent expectations around interest rate cutssuggest it might be a somewhat more active spring market than we thought.”
Ontario has witnessed the initial decline in prices, followed by Winnipeg, Halifax, and the Fraser Valley. Meanwhile, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador continue to observe ascending prices.
Larry Cerqua, the chair of CREA, expressed the expectation of no sensational developments in the resale housing market in the coming months. He views this as a positive sign, suggesting that the market is steadily stabilizing towards a balanced state.
