Western Canada is likely to experience a more robust market this fall, RE/MAX says
Edmonton’s housing resale market is likely to be among the hottest in Canada this fall, according to RE/MAX Canada.
However, RE/MAX Canada president Christopher Alexander said that the region’s sales growth is likely to be “modest” at best.
“The market is not going backwards by any means, but we might see typically softening compared with last year,” Alexander said.
In contrast to other parts of Canada, majority of markets in Western Canada and the Prairies can expect average residential sale prices to go up by 0.7% to 4.5% this fall. In particular, the increases will be most apparent in Alberta (Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer) and in Manitoba (Winnipeg).
“On the flip side, regions such as Greater Vancouver Area [and] Kelowna, BC are expecting sales to soften by 2%-3%,” RE/MAX noted.
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Fall slowdown likely to be across the board
At the same time, RE/MAX said that overall activity and prices in the wider Canadian real estate market are likely to moderate this fall, mainly due to persistent supply issues and multi-decade-high interest rates.
“If the fall market is an early indicator for 2024 activity, we may see a very active first quarter as buyers and sellers take advantage of easing prices into the earlier part of next year,” Alexander said.
The lack of affordable housing inventory is compelling more than half of Gen Z-ers (55%) and nearly half of millennials (49%) to change their housing plans, RE/MAX said.
The interest rate environment is also expected to become a dominating factor as younger Canadians, who represent an ever-growing share of buyers, were more likely to rely on the Bank of Canada’s interest rate announcements when deciding to enter into home ownership (47% of Gen Z-ers and 52% of millennials).
