January 26, 2023
Real Estate News
RYPM
After reaching record-highs in early 2022, home prices across Canada began to tumble as interest rates repeatedly rose.
According to data from the Canadian Real Estate
Association (CREA), the national average home price was $816,720 in
February. By December, it had fallen to $626,318. However, the declines were
not uniform across the country, with prices closing in on pre-pandemic levels
in some markets, and barely off their peaks in others.
To ascertain where prices remain elevated and where
affordability can still be found, Zoocasa analyzed home prices from January to December
2022 to determine the average for 48 Canadian cities.
With an average price of $276,450, Saint John, New
Brunswick, was deemed the most affordable housing market in 2022. The Saint
John Real Estate Board noted that demand had returned to pre-pandemic levels by
December, with sales falling 37.4% year-over-year and new listings down 25.4%
annually.
Despite an onslaught of Ontarians moving east during the
pandemic, the Atlantic Provinces still retained affordability — including Saint
John, four of 2022’s five cheapest housing markets can be found on the east
coast. The only outlier was Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, with an average price of
$291,967.
Fredericton, NB ($284,667), St. John’s, Newfoundland and
Labrador ($312,858), and Greater Moncton, NB ($320,817), also appeared in the
bottom five.
On the other end of the affordability spectrum lies
Oakville-Milton, ON. The region’s average price of $1,393,608 made it the most
expensive in Canada in 2022. Although prices had fallen to $1,280,600 by December,
they peaked at a staggering $1,646,900 in February.
Zoocasa noted that the top 10 most expensive cities were
“easy to predict,” with all 10 located in either Ontario or British Columbia.
Greater Vancouver ($1,199,542) and Greater Toronto ($1,195,950) placed second
and third, respectively, followed by Mississauga and ($1,184,692) and the Lower
Mainland ($1,143,233). In sixth place, Fraser Valley ($1,083,393) rounded out
the cities with over $1M averages.
Looking at the year ahead, Jill Oudil, Chair of the CREA,
said the housing market’s adjustment to higher rates may be “mostly in the
rear-view mirror,” luring more buyers off the sidelines come spring.
The CREA expects national home prices to continue their
downward descent in 2023, and is forecasting a 5.9% annual decline to $662,103.
Zoocasa
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