Interest growing in markets outside urban strongholds
Defying expectations of urban markets spearheading the home sales charge, smaller locales in Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada accounted for a significant portion of the nation’s housing activity last month, according to RBC Economics.
Ontario drove most of the 0.9% month-over-month increase in sales nationwide in September, with the Greater Toronto Area’s 0.7% rise being a major contributor to this performance. However, stronger increases in Barrie (up 11%), Cambridge (up 10%), Windsor (up 8%), Brantford (up 6%), Ottawa (up 3%), and other smaller markets played a bigger role in pushing national sales up, RBC said.
“Strong buyer interest in smaller markets amid scarce inventories also produced some of the larger price gains in Ontario,” RBC said.
The MLS home price index went up by 2.6% monthly in the GTA, 2.7% in Barrie, 3.1% in the Kawartha Lakes area, 3.2% in Woodstock, and 3.4% in Kitchener-Waterloo. All of these far exceeded the 1.7% nationwide increase during the same period, RBC said.
Read more: National home sales activity sees first monthly increase since March – CREA
In Quebec, stronger activity was impelled by markets other than Montreal, RBC said. The greatest monthly sales increases in the province were observed in Trois-Rivières (up 11%) and Gatineau (up 10%).
The largest upswing was seen in New Brunswick, with home sales growing by more than 10% monthly. This was drive by upward pressure from the outsized increases in Fredericton (up 36%) and Moncton (up 6%).
“Clearly the province’s good affordability standing continues to draw buyers into the market, including many from outside the province,” RBC said. “New Brunswick has seen strong positive interprovincial in-migration so far this year … [and] markets within the province are among the most affordable in the country despite prices soaring in the past year.”
