Canadian home prices fall 6% in April, down for second month in a row

Canadian dwelling costs fell six per cent to $746,000 in April, as greater rates of interest poured chilly water on a red-hot actual property market.

House gross sales fell 12 per cent nationally in April, with the largest drops seen in large cities like Toronto, the Canadian Actual Property Affiliation mentioned Monday.

Costs peaked at a document excessive of greater than $816,000 in February this yr and common dwelling costs have now declined for 2 months in a row. In March, the common worth stood at $796,000, earlier than falling one other six per cent in April, which is often a powerful month for the housing market.

“Following a record-breaking couple of years, housing markets in lots of elements of Canada have cooled off fairly sharply over the past two months, in step with a bounce in rates of interest and purchaser fatigue,” CREA chair Jill Oudil mentioned in an announcement.

CREA says the common promoting worth could be deceptive as a result of it’s simply skewed by costly and quite a few gross sales in large cities like Toronto and Vancouver. It highlights a unique quantity referred to as the Home Worth Index as a greater gauge of the market as a result of it adjusts for the quantity and sort of houses bought.

The HPI shrank by 0.6 per cent in April, the primary month-to-month decline in two years.

Whereas costs are down from their current peak, they continue to be up by about seven per cent from the place they had been a yr in the past.

Nonetheless, the numbers paint an image of a housing market cooling from its feverish exercise simply just a few months in the past.

“The exorbitant run-up for dearer items (like indifferent houses) throughout the pandemic might give technique to a steeper decline,” TD Financial institution economist Rishi Sondhi mentioned in a be aware to shoppers. 

“Shifting ahead, we anticipate costs to proceed falling, reflecting the cooler demand backdrop.”