Home prices poised to increase: Royal LePage

April 20, 2018

Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage.

If you are waiting for Canadian home prices to crash, don’t hold your breath, says Royal LePage. The large real estate agency expects prices to start increasing again the second half of this year.
“The combination of declining affordability and government intervention has for the most part neutralized very high home price appreciation levels in the greater Vancouver and Toronto regions,” said Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage. “However, those looking for this to translate into year-over-year home price drops shouldn’t hold their breath. The demand for housing is so strong that the rate of home price appreciation is expected to pick up again in the second half of 2018.”
Soper said the current slowdown in the housing market is mainly due to federal and provincial government interventions, including tighter mortgage restrictions and a cascade of new taxes in Ontario and British Columbia.
But “the fundamental conditions to support a strong housing market continue to remain in place. Canada’s economy is currently on solid footing,” he said.
In the past year, the Canadian economy grew by an estimated 3 per cent, making it the fastest growing among the G7 advanced economies.
“On a national basis we believe the Canadian housing market is amidst a long-term expansionary cycle,” said Soper.