If you live in Toronto or Vancouver, the possibility of buying a house in the near future is probably not promising.
But you probably already knew that.
The cost of houses continues to rise in both cities, reaching record highs in March.
Housing data released yesterday by The Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index – a measure of the prosperity of the housing market nationwide – revealed that house prices were up in eight of 11 of Canada’s major housing markets in March over February and hit new records in the year-over-year price rise in the two biggest cities, Vancouver and Toronto, according to new housing data released Tuesday.
Year over year, national house prices were up about 4.7 per cent, while Toronto was up 7.6 per cent and Vancouver up 5.3 per cent. In Calgary – which saw a 36 per cent decrease in housing a year ago thanks to slumping oil – the prices remained steady in February despite having dropped about 2.1 per cent in the last five months.
The report acknowledges that the new records for March don’t necessarily reflect a general strength of the Canadian real estate market, pointing that, while Toronto and Vancouver reached record price levels, the others are still playing a game of catch-up.
In Toronto – where the price of a detached home is now over $1 million – price increases are largely the result of too few listings to meet the demand. If you’ve already bought a house in the city, you probably found yourself in an intense bidding war for that coveted piece of real estate.
If only we could afford to shop around for houses like these.
Housing Price Changes:
The national average: +4.7 per cent
Hamilton +8.4
Toronto +7.6
Vancouver +5.3
Edmonton +4.7
Calgary +4.4
Victoria +3.3
Quebec City +1.5
Halifax +1.1
Montreal +0.2
Ottawa-Gatineau -0.9
Winnipeg -1.0
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