Out of 28 Canadian residential real-estate markets, the only areas where prices fell year-over-year were in B.C. – Victoria (-9.9%); Vancouver (-8.8%) and the Fraser Valley (-5%), according to a Conference Board of Canada report released yesterday.
Those three regions are also the only ones in Canada where the board expects further price depreciation in the next year.
The strongest residential real-estate markets in the country, with price increases of more than 7% expected in the next year, are:
- Regina;
- Saskatoon;
- Gatineau;
- Montreal;
- Quebec City;
- Sherbrooke; and
- Saguenay.
Vancouver had 22,236 sales in August, the conference board noted. That’s down 9.3% compared with July and down 24.9% compared with August 2011.
The board’s report comes a few days after outspoken financial commentator and former MP Garth Turner projected that the Vancouver real-estate market could be in for a 40% price correction even if there is no external event or crisis that prompts investor fear.
Vancouver residential real-estate prices in August remained the most expensive in Canada, at $715,593 for an average home. That’s 42.8% more than the $501,058 average home price in Toronto, Canada’s second most expensive city.
