Housing Market in Ontario Continues to Adjust to Higher Mortgage Rates

With the Bank of Canada and other central banks around the globe hiking rates in an effort to stamp out inflation, the cost to borrow funds has risen substantially over a short period. This has resulted in a more challenging environment for borrowers looking to purchase a home, and home sales across the region have dropped accordingly.

September’s lower sales performance reflects continued hesitancy among Buyers as they watch interest rates rise and consider the speculation surrounding price trends. With rising interest rates, the mortgage stress test has sidelined some potential Buyers, while others are likely scrutinizing their budgets for affordability amidst inflation and cost of living increases.

Ontario - Housing Market Continues to Adjust to Higher Borrowing Costs.

Toronto, 04 October 2022 -- The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) housing market continued its adjustment to higher borrowing costs in September 2022. Sales for the month reached 5,038 but were down by 44.1% compared to September 2021. New listings were also down on a year-over-year basis by 16.7% to 11,237. This was the lowest number of new listings reported for the month of September since 2002. This is especially troublesome given that the stock of homes in the GTA increased markedly over the last 20 years.

We must ensure that the temporary dip in housing demand is not allowed to mask the critical shortage of homes available for sale in the GTA. Candidates running in the upcoming Ontario municipal elections must ensure home buyers and renters have adequate housing options in the years to come. Municipal council decisions have a direct impact on housing affordability, in terms of the protracted development approval processes, high development fees and other related policies that preclude timely housing development,= said TRREB President Kevin Crigger.

Elected councils must also reconsider existing policies that preclude homeowners from listing their homes for sale, including significant added upfront costs like the land transfer tax. Potential new policies like mandatory home energy audits could also create unnecessary interference and delays in the home selling process and dissuade some homeowners from listing their homes for sale,= said TRREB CEO John DiMichele. The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Composite benchmark was up on a year-over-year basis by 4.3%. Over the same period of time, the average price dipped by 4.3% to $1,086,762. The average price was up compared to August 2022.

Hovering just below $1.1 million, the average selling price may have found some support during the last couple of months of summer. With new listings down quite substantially year-over-year and well-below historic norms, some home buyers are quite possibly experiencing tighter market conditions in some GTA neighbourhoods. October generally represents the peak of the fall market, so it will be important to see where price trends head over the next month,= said TRREB Chief Market Analyst Jason Mercer.