Real Estate Blog - Canadian real estate

Canadian Housing Market Starts 2022 Hotter Than Ever

Photo by Darren Richardson on Unsplash

The Canadian housing market ended 2021 on a high note. How has it been performing a month into 2022?

Canada’s sizzling housing sector has been resilient throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the economic downturn and global health crisis, Canadian real estate markets from coast to coast have enjoyed unprecedented growth in sales activity and home valuations alike. What’s more, the gravity-defying growth has been consistent across virtually every segment of the market, with urban condominiums bouncing back after experiencing a lull in 2020, to the spike in single-detached activity in suburban and rural communities.

The key question for many market analysts, as well as homebuyers and sellers,…

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Canadian Real Estate Markets Have Seen A “Typical” Home Increase Up To $400,000

Canadian real estate prices are soaring at the fastest pace ever, yet the national numbers downplay growth. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data shows home prices continued to soar in December. Over just 31 days, a “typical” home added up to $40,000 in one market. Over the past year, prices have increased more than ten times that monthly surge.

A Typical Home Across Canada Increased $16,700 Last Month

Canadian home prices are rising at one of the fastest rates ever. The composite benchmark (a.k.a. a typical home) reached $798,200 in December, up 2.1% ($16,700) compared to a month before. The benchmark is now a whopping 26.6% ($167,500) higher than last year. Both are large gains, but this is the index — many markets outperform even…

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How High Will The Bank Of Canada Hike Rates?

Canadians have never had so many monetary policy questions, especially homebuyers. Our crystal ball is in the shop, so we can’t tell you what interest rates will be. However, we can do the next best thing — present you with the Canadian Overnight Rate Sentiment Index. We polled the country’s top economics and finance experts for their Bank of Canada (BoC) forecast. We then de-biased it by disassociating the expert’s name, and plotted the forecasts. While we can’t tell you the future (yet!), we can help you understand where the best of the best see things heading. 

A Quick Note On Forecasting

It might seem obvious what a forecast is, but it’s worth repeating for those who don’t work with them regularly. A forecast estimates a future…

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Challenging Canadian Real Estate Market, Covid-19 Put Focus on Home Renovations

A recent RE/MAX Canada report has highlighted shifting consumer trends in Canadian real estate, driven primarily by challenging market conditions and Covid-19. The 2021 Renovation Investment Report found more than half of Canadians renovated their home for personal enjoyment, not the perceived return on investment (ROI) that was the driver behind many renovation decisions in the past. Tightening market conditions from coast to coast and the “lockdown effect” of Covid-19 were factors in the shift.

Renovation Trends in Canadian Real Estate

• Three in 10 Canadians (29 per cent) renovated for non-essential “lifestyle” reasons, such as recreation/entertainment projects.
• More than half of Canadians renovated their…

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Canadian Housing Market Trends to Watch in 2022

The Canadian housing market has been a fixture in media headlines and an ever-present topic of conversation around dinner tables and water coolers by those who continue to work in an office setting in the wake of COVID-19. Early on in the pandemic, some expected a steep decline in home sales and prices in Canada, but nobody could have predicted what actually materialized in the market. Come May 2020, regional real estate markets began their rebound. The spike in demand continued through 2021, resulting in record-breaking price growth and what many would consider to be the hottest year in Canadian real estate. So, what can we expect in 2022? Here are five trends to keep your eye on.

Interest rates are expected to rise.

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Yours, Mine, and Ours: Everything You Need to Know About Property Lines

The poet Robert Frost once famously said, “Good fences make good neighbors,” but this only holds true if that fence is in the right place. Most homeowners don’t actually know where their property begins and ends, says Chris Kamarianakis, CEO of ProtectYourBoundaries.ca. 

Most buyers do their due diligence by hiring a building inspector and getting a notary or lawyer to do a title search. But Kamarianakis says it’s also important to get accurate dimensions of the property you’re about to purchase so that you’re aware of the rights and limitations associated with your land.

Here’s what you need to understand about property lines and boundary rights.

Location, location, location: it goes beyond the street address

While it’s smart to…

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Canadian Real Estate Investors to Target “Beds, Sheds and Redevs”

One of the chief 2021 themes of the Canadian real estate market has been investors representing a significant portion of demand, from the major urban centres to small towns from coast to coast. Be it an investment titan or individual players possessing multiple properties, the Canadian housing market has been a breeding ground for investors trying to capitalize on the sizzling real estate market.

This past summer, it was reported that investors accounted for one-fifth of home purchases in Canada. As another example, this past fall, Teranet released its quarterly Market Insight Report, revealing that investors represented about one-quarter of all Ontario residential property transactions, and one-third in Toronto.

…

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Canada’s Real Estate Industry Had Forecast Slow Price Growth In 2022, But Not Anymore

Canada’s real estate industry is ratcheting up expectations for next year. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) is forecasting huge growth for the average home price in 2022. Just six months ago, they had been expecting the boom in 2021 to be followed by slow growth. Now in a market flooded with easy money, they see 12x the rate of growth previously forecast in the summer. 

Canadian Real Estate Prices Are Forecast To Rise 8% In 2022

The latest CREA forecast shows huge growth next year, slow only in contrast to 2021. Canada’s average sale price is forecast to hit $739,495 in 2022, up 7.6% from the previous year. They also see big gains in Ontario (+11.5%), New Brunswick (+11.4%), and Nova Scotia (+11.+2%). BC underperforms at…

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Canadian Real Estate Prices Don’t Always Rise Everywhere Forever: BMO

Canada’s oldest bank has a warning for homebuyers — prices don’t always rise. The uncharacteristic message came from BMO‘s chief economist Douglas Porter. Canada has seen few home price corrections, causing homebuyers to think of it as “risk-free.” Not just in Toronto or Vancouver, but virtually every market in the country, all simultaneously. BMO wants you to know that’s not always the case, and risks rise the longer home prices avoid a correction. 

Canadian Real Estate Prices Climbed Despite A Decade Of Warnings

Canadian real estate has faced “bubble” warnings for nearly a decade that have not come true. Some dudes named Poloz and Macklem were even ranting about it back in 2013 but have since come around. Justified or not, listening…

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National Bank Of Canada Calls 2022 “The Year Of The Hike,” Sees Rates 6x Higher

DECEMBER 11, 2021

One of Canada’s “Big Six” banks is declaring next year to be “The Year of The Hike.” National Bank of Canada (NBC) chief strategist (and poet-in-residence) Warren Lovely is calling the first interest rate hike in just a few months. He sees the Bank of Canada (BoC) making its hike in March, way ahead of schedule. Over the next year, the overnight rate is forecast to recoup much of the ground lost during the pandemic. However, Canada’s real estate bubble will prevent it from going much further. Since the country went all-in on housing, it can’t pursue more aggressive policies like healthier economies. 

The Bank Of Canada Will Hike Rates In March

Canada is expected to wind up its overly easy monetary policy pretty fast.…

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