In March 2024, lowered sales, increased prices, and other shifting trends, characterized the New Brunswick market. Sales In March 2024, 656 homes were sold, according to the MLS® System of the New Brunswick Real Estate Board, for a 13.2% decline from March 2023. Sales remained 23.9% below the five-year average and 10.4% below the ten-year average for March. Year-to-date sales reached 1,706 units, down 0.9% from 2023 for the same period.  Across the province, home sales decreased in all regions compared to March 2023: Saint John – 3.9% Greater Moncton -14.9% Fredericton -15.2% Northern an ..read more

In March 2024, Newfoundland and Labrador’s real estate market experienced mixed trends, with St. John’s seeing increases. Sales In March 2024, 310 homes were sold through the MLS® System of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of REALTORS®, with a 10.9% decrease from March 2023. These sales were 12.3% below the five-year average and 1.3% below the ten-year average for March. Year-to-date home sales totalled 855 units, down by 5% from the same period in 2023.  St. John’s In St. John’s, residential sales saw an 8.6% increase year-over-year in March, although the rest of the province ha ..read more

Guelph and the Oakville-Milton real estate markets are all within commuting distance of Toronto, and feature a strong demand for housing, as well as diverse housing options. They attract university students, faculty, and staff, creating rental demand, and offer other, varied housing and investment options, each area with its own, unique characteristics. March 2024 Market Updates – Guelph vs. Oakville-Milton Sales Guelph’s market showed sales trailing 23.9% below the five-year average, while Oakville-Milton was even more slowed, with sales lagging 31.1% below the five-year average.  Both m ..read more

On April 10th, the Ontario Ford government introduced a comprehensive bill aimed at simplifying home construction and approval processes across the province. The new Cutting Red Tape to Build More Housing Act would include provisions to decrease the required amount of parking for developers, implement expedited procedures for building student housing, and enforce a use-it-or-lose-it policy. Critics suggest these actions are not robust enough, and have expressed concerns over the lack of specific details regarding the anticipated number of new homes resulting from the proposed planning changes ..read more

According to an Edge Realty report, in February, provincial real estate markets experienced varied trends, while Canada overall continued to face affordability challenges. Source: Edge Realty Home Sales February saw a notable decrease in demand for homes across Canada, with seasonally adjusted home sales for the country overall dropping by 3.1% month-over-month (m/m). However, this decrease wasn’t experienced equally in all provinces, and some actually experienced increases. The decline was particularly pronounced in British Columbia (BC) and Ontario, both experiencing matching 7.2% monthly d ..read more

The Ontario housing market in March 2024 showed some subtle shifts, with moderate declines in monthly home sales and a rise in new and active residential listings, resulting in a growing inventory. Meanwhile, the average price of resale homes continued to rise. Home Sales In March 2024, residential sales activity in Ontario, as reported through MLS®, totalled 15,167 units. This was a moderate decline of 4.4% compared to March 2023. However, on a year-to-date basis, home sales increased by 7.9% from the same period last year, totaling 37,571 units over the first three months of the year. Nation ..read more

On April 10, 2024, the Bank of Canada announced it was keeping its overnight rate target at 5%, alongside a Bank Rate of 5.25% and a deposit rate of 5%. It also maintained its strategy of reducing money in circulation, for quantitative tightening. The Bank predicts the global economy will grow around 3%, with inflation in most developed economies gradually decreasing and the US economy outperforming expectations. While US economic growth is expected to slow in the latter part of the year, it will still be stronger than expected in January. The euro area is anticipated to slowly recover from it ..read more

An Altus Group study found that, in the final quarter of 2023, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) witnessed a total dollar volume of $22.8 billion in 2023’s final quarter, showing a drop of roughly 25% compared to the year before. Despite this slight deceleration, Toronto has kept its place as one of the top three markets for investors; Vancouver and Ottawa are the other leaders. The industrial sector maintained stability, with $7.6 billion in dollar volume transacted, showing a marginal increase year-over-year, while the hotel sector exhibited signs of recovery, with $202 million in dollar volume ..read more

Amidst macroeconomic challenges, Vancouver was the most preferred market by investors in the fourth quarter of 2023, followed by Toronto and Ottawa In the fourth quarter of 2023, Vancouver’s office sector saw a significant drop in value, down 36% from the previous year to $579 million. Office space availability increased slightly to 12.2%, showing stability. Around 608,769 ft2 of new office space became available, with 78% of it already leased. Notably, two new Class-A office buildings, The Post and B6, were added to downtown Vancouver. Additionally, construction is underway for nearly 4.1 mil ..read more

On March 21, 2024, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada made an announcement regarding temporary residents. While recognizing the contribution to Canada that immigration provides, a key point of the announcement is that a target has been set to decrease the temporary resident population to 5% of the total population over the next three years. The aim is to manage and balance immigration sustainably, aligning it with labour market needs, and ensuring integrity in the system. The announcement notes that employment is 1.2 million jobs above the pre-COVID February 2020 level. As of Februar ..read more