The Royal LePage® Home Price Update and Market Forecast, distributed each quarter, includes price data and insights from experts in 64 real estate markets across the country, as well as national and regional forecasts.
After a stronger first quarter, rising inventory levels and muted homebuyer activity tipped the Canadian real estate market closer to balanced conditions in Q2 2024. Despite the highly-anticipated cut to the Bank of Canada’s key lending rate in June, many homebuyers remain at bay, likely waiting for more decreases to be made.
“Canada’s housing market is struggling to find a consistent rhythm, as the last three months clearly demonstrated,” said Phil Soper, president and CEO, Royal LePage. “Nationally, home prices rose while the number of properties bought and sold sagged; an unusual dynamic. The silver lining: inventory levels in many regions have climbed materially. This is the closest we’ve been to a balanced market in several years. This trend dominates activity in two of the country’s largest and most expensive markets, the greater regions of Toronto and Vancouver, where sales are down yet prices remain sticky. There are exceptions. In the prairie provinces and Quebec, low supply and tight competition persist.”
Key highlights from the national release include:
- National aggregate home price rose 1.9% year over year in Q2 2024; up 1.5% over Q1
- Toronto and Vancouver report slower-than-usual market activity this spring as inventory builds, while demand continues to outpace supply in prairie provinces and Quebec
- Quebec City records highest year-over-year aggregate price increase (10.4%) in Q2 among report’s major regions
- Royal LePage maintains national year-end forecast with prices expected to increase 9.0% in Q4 2024 over the same period last year
