Canada’s home prices rise 10.8%

GTA showed signs of slowing in fourth quarter, as condos remain hot, report finds

Canada’s residential real estate market saw strong, but slowing yearover-year price growth in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a report by Royal LePage.

The real estate company says based on data in 53 markets, the price of a home in Canada increased 10.8 per cent year-over-year to $626,042 in the quarter.

Broken down by housing type, Royal LePage says the median price of a two-storey home rose 11.1 per cent year-over-year to $741,924, and the median price of a bungalow climbed 7.1 per cent to $522,963.

But the company says in its report published Wednesday that the median price of a condo grew faster than any other housing type studied, rising 14.3 per cent to $420,823 on a year-over-year basis due to gains in many of the largest markets.

In the Greater Toronto Area, the median price of a condo grew19.5 per cent year-over-year to $476,421, while in the city of Toronto, the cost of a condo rose 19.6 per cent to $515,578.

In Greater Vancouver, condominiums followed a similar pattern during the quarter, rising 20.2 per cent to $651,885, while the median price of a condo unit in the city of Vancouver rose 18.7 per cent to $775,806.

Royal LePage also says the GTA showed signs of slowing as 2017 drew to a close, notably in the single-family detached segment.

The company says condos were the only segment to appreciate on a quarter-over-quarter basis among all housing types, rising 1.1 per cent in the final three months of the year.

At the same time, the price of twostorey homes and bungalows fell 0.3 and 0.2 per cent quarter-over-quarter, respectively.

“To prospective homeowners in our largest cities, condominiums represent the last bastion of affordability,” said Royal LePage president and CEO Phil Soper. “This is especially true for first-time buyers whose purchasing power has been reduced by tightening mortgage regulations.”