If you’re in the market to buy or sell a home, staying informed about market trends is crucial. A newly released Zoocasa report, which examined 21 prominent home markets across the country, indicates a three percent national decline in the $760,600 benchmark price for Canadian real estate markets since June 2023.
“Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, and Winnipeg have seen prices drop since summer. This is partly due to seasonality, with sales activity typically slowing down in the colder months, but is also a result of borrowing costs becoming increasingly high,” the report states.
Research shows that the downward trend slipped below prices from the previous year, suggesting a more widespread decrease in home prices. This implies that the current market conditions favour potential buyers over sellers due to the number of properties available in the market, which gives buyers more room for negotiating.
Where Real Estate Prices Are Dropping in Canada 2024
Out of the 21 home markets analyzed throughout the country, these are the top ten places that are experiencing the most significant decrease in home value. If you’ve been waiting to buy, now might be the best time to do so in these markets:
- Kitchener-Waterloo, ON: 8.9 per cent
- London-St. Thomas, ON: 7.8 per cent
- Greater Toronto, ON: 7.7 per cent
- Hamilton-Burlington, ON: 7.7 per cent
- Cambridge, ON: 6.9 per cent
- Guelph and District, ON: 6.6 per cent
- Niagara Region, ON: 4.4 per cent
- Winnipeg, MB: 4.4 per cent
- Regina, SK: 4.3 per cent
- Fraser Valley, BC: 3.6 per cent
On the flip side, if you’re a seller, there’s a higher likelihood chance that you won’t be able to attain the highest price for your real estate if you intend to sell in the winter. In other words, now’s not the best time to sell.
Ontario, in particular, is leading the market shift. Out of 21 cities analyzed, seven cities with the most significant decrease in home value are within the GTA and surrounding communities.
In fact, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) year-end data for 2023 reveals only 65,982 transactions within the past year. This is the lowest since 2000 and a 12.1 percent decrease from 2022. As explained in a recent article published in the CBC, this is especially noteworthy since Toronto’s population is almost 25 percent larger than it was in 2000.
Furthermore, three other cities across Winnipeg, Fraser Valley and Regina, have experienced the most substantial price declines outside of Ontario.
Which Canadian Real Estate Markets Are the Most Stable?
Calgary, St. John’s, and Saint John stood out for keeping stable prices despite the nationwide decrease. Calgary’s home prices have gone up by 10.5 percent since November 2022, and there was a benchmark price of $557,400 in November 2023.
