The pace of decline may have slowed in recent months but Canada\u2019s housing market is still firmly in correction mode. Home resales fell another 3.3% m\/m and prices a further 1.4% in November across Canada. We think the massive interest rate hikes and loss of affordability over the past year will hold back buyers into 2023, keeping prices on a downward trajectory in the near term. <\/p>\n
The market\u2019s slide remains widespread. Very few markets bucked the weakening trend last month\u2014Ottawa and Gatineau were among them activity-wise though just barely. The number of homes changing hands is running below pre-pandemic levels in most regions of the country. Activity is especially soft in Ontario and BC, where sales in many markets have slumped to their lowest levels in a decade or more (excluding the pandemic shutdown period). This group includes Victoria, Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge, London, Hamilton, Niagara, Toronto and Ottawa. The deep correction is largely payback for overshooting earlier in the pandemic. Other markets in Quebec (e.g. Montreal) and Atlantic Canada (e.g. Halifax) also currently operate at historically low levels.<\/p>\n