Published October 16, 2023, 10:14 p.m. ET
A row of new homes are pictured in Ottawa on Monday, August 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Home resales fell 1.9 per cent across Canada in September, the third straight month in which resale rates fell, according to a new report from RBC.
At the same time, more sellers are currently entering the market, the report said, with the number of new listings increasing each month over the past six months. In September, the number of listings exceeded pre-pandemic levels for that time of year by 10 percent.
RBC’s monthly housing market update, released last Friday, said new listings rose 6.3 per cent across Canada in September.
That’s good news for those looking to buy a home – prices are expected to “ease” for the rest of the year and possibly continue into early 2024, the report said.
Sales are declining
Calgary remains a hotspot for home sales in Canada, but in September the city saw its first decline in six months, with sales falling 1.8 per cent.
In other regions of the country, the decline in sales was more dramatic.
Vancouver, for example, saw a 5.6 percent decline in home sales. Another market that saw lower activity in September was Saskatoon, where sales fell 3.9 percent.
Although Toronto only saw a decrease of 1.8 percent in September compared to the previous month, the decrease compared to the season’s peak was 22.4 percent. Sharp monthly declines in other areas of southern Ontario, such as 14.5 per cent in home sales in the Niagara Region and 7.1 per cent in the Hamilton-Burlington region, accounted for Ontario’s decline.
The unsold supply in the Ontario market is being joined by more supply, balancing supply-demand conditions better than before.
Conditions currently appear to be “buyer-friendly,” the report says, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area, the Niagara Region and Barrie. Compared to August, the number of new listings in Toronto increased 11 percent in September.
Not all regions saw a decline in home sales. A few cities actually saw rates increase in September, including Edmonton, Halifax and Montreal, which saw increases of 7.2, 5.9 and 1.5 per cent, respectively.
SOME BUYERS ENJOY CHEAP PRICES
These purchase conditions are accompanied by subdued prices, which benefit those who want to buy a home.
“Ontario markets in and around the GTA saw the largest monthly declines in September, while price growth remained relatively flat in other areas of the province,” the report said.
Between August and September, prices rose slightly in Vancouver and Victoria, but less than half as much as in August.
Prices continue to rise in other regions such as Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatoon, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador, Moncton and Saint John, NB
The report said ongoing issues such as higher interest rates and affordability issues are likely to keep buyer demand low in the near term, while the same issues are causing more homeowners to consider selling.
“Taken together, these trends would give buyers more pricing power in the coming months, further driving down prices in Ontario while dampening gains elsewhere in the country,” the report concludes.