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Canadian real estate near bottom of global rankings – but for how long?

September 14th, 2019  |  News

A global housing slowdown is happening, and Canada is close to the very bottom of it.

Canada placed 49th out of 56 national housing markets included in the Knight Frank Global House Price Index, which ranks countries by annual home price changes each quarter.

In the second quarter, Canadian home prices were up only 0.5% compared to the same period last year, according to Knight Frank, a property consultancy headquartered in the U.K.

The only countries ranked below Canada were Poland, which saw prices rise 0.4% on a year-over-year basis, Brazil and Switzerland, where prices climbed 0.2%.

“Only four markets registered a decline in annual prices – Morocco, Italy, Finland and Australia,” writes Kate Everett-Allen, Knight Frank’s head of international residential research, in a report.

“However, with two interest rate cuts this year, new lending stimulus in place and prices bottoming out, we expect Australia to rise up the rankings in the second half of 2019,” Everett-Allen continues.

Canada’s descent is quite a tumble from where the country stood three years ago, when it stole the third spot in Knight Frank’s Q2 2016 roundup.

In July, the most recent month the Canadian Real Estate Association has data for, home sales across the country increased 12.6% annually and 3.5% from July.

The key markets of Toronto and Vancouver both saw sales activity accelerate versus a year ago, leading Robert Hogue, a senior economist for RBC, to proclaim, “Canada’s housing market correction is over, and the recovery is on.”

It looks like the Canadian housing market may not be a bottom feeder for long.

Article from Huffington Post