Poll also shows province where this view is most likely to be held
Most Canadians feel that house prices will continue to surge in the near term, according to a recent survey.
A recent Yahoo/Maru Public Opinion survey polled more than 1,500 Canadians and found that 68% of respondents believe house prices will continue to rise over the next couple of years, while 32% believe the bubble will burst soon.
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The view that prices will continue to surge is most likely to be held in Quebec (75%), followed by British Columbia (72%), Ontario (68%), Atlantic Canada (62%), Manitoba/Saskatchewan (58%), and Alberta (57%).
Additionally, an overwhelming majority of respondents (84%) say that housing prices in their community have risen over the last year – of which 49% say they’ve risen steeply while 35% say they’ve risen steadily.
A remaining group (15%) said that house prices in their community have stayed relatively the same, while just 1% believe prices have dropped.
“What’s striking about these findings is that Canadians believe there is still a lot of horsepower to the escalating home prices and a potential bubble burst for the majority is not on the horizon any time soon,” John Wright, executive vice-president of Maru Group, told Yahoo Finance.
Wright also pointed out that interest-rate hikes could potentially impact these perceptions moving forward.
“The real question is whether the Bank of Canada decides to start raising lending rates in the spring,” Wright told Yahoo Finance. “If that’s signalled, there may be a real rush by homebuyers to borrow cheap money and buy properties that will likely fuel demand and push prices higher.”
Figures released by Statistics Canada in October showed that new home prices across Canada grew by 11.3% annually and 0.4% monthly in September.
