Industry observers offer their take on what this year has in store for Canada’s red-hot housing markets
By all accounts, last year proved to be a high-water mark for the Canadian real estate sector in terms of price growth and sales activity, but various experts warned that 2017 may prove to be quite a different story.
In particular, the performance of the country’s two hottest housing markets is projected to continue veering away from each other.
BMO Capital Research senior economist Sal Guatieri warned that the B.C. government’s implementation of the foreign buyers’ tax in mid-2016 will continue to apply a downward pressure on growth in Vancouver prices.
However, Mortgage Professionals of Canada president and CEO Paul Taylor said that the dearth in supply (especially in comparison to sustained demand) would stimulate a renewed price spike in both Vancouver and Toronto sometime this year.
“These are world-class cities. Vancouver is beautiful and Toronto is a financial hub, so in comparison to other global real estate markets that you put in the same category, it’s actually still quite a long way upwards that those values could increase to even be comparable to those other cities,” Taylor ventured, as quoted by GlobalNews.ca.
RateHub co-founder James Laird agreed about Toronto’s strength, adding that ever-growing demand for detached and semi-detached properties in the GTA will be responsible for much of the city’s home price growth this year.
Guatieri offered a more modest prediction for Toronto, while maintaining that the metropolitan area will still remain as one of the country’s strongest markets.
“We’ll probably continue to see price increases, but not on the order of 20 per cent. More like the mid-single digits for next year in Toronto.”
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In particular, the performance of the country’s two hottest housing markets is projected to continue veering away from each other.
BMO Capital Research senior economist Sal Guatieri warned that the B.C. government’s implementation of the foreign buyers’ tax in mid-2016 will continue to apply a downward pressure on growth in Vancouver prices.
However, Mortgage Professionals of Canada president and CEO Paul Taylor said that the dearth in supply (especially in comparison to sustained demand) would stimulate a renewed price spike in both Vancouver and Toronto sometime this year.
“These are world-class cities. Vancouver is beautiful and Toronto is a financial hub, so in comparison to other global real estate markets that you put in the same category, it’s actually still quite a long way upwards that those values could increase to even be comparable to those other cities,” Taylor ventured, as quoted by GlobalNews.ca.
RateHub co-founder James Laird agreed about Toronto’s strength, adding that ever-growing demand for detached and semi-detached properties in the GTA will be responsible for much of the city’s home price growth this year.
Guatieri offered a more modest prediction for Toronto, while maintaining that the metropolitan area will still remain as one of the country’s strongest markets.
“We’ll probably continue to see price increases, but not on the order of 20 per cent. More like the mid-single digits for next year in Toronto.”
Related stories:
CREA raises forecast for 2016 home sales, expects fewer sales in 2017
BCREA: Trump regime and new mortgage rules to inflate rates by next year
