Needless to say, all of the major financial institutions have a vested interest in the state and well being of the Canadian Real Estate Market. As an agent, you’re always looking for resources for realtors and it’ll likely be good to know how the big banks employ the Monitoring Dashboard for real estate market conditions in Canada.
The Monitoring Dashboard has 10 separate individual categories, and to each of them one of three colour-coded statuses will be applied at any time.
The 10 categories are:
- Affordability
- Resale Market Balance
- Rental Market Balance
- Interest Rates
- Labour Market
- Demographics
- New Home Inventory – Singles
- New Home Inventory – Multiples
- Homes Under Construction – Singles
- Homes Under Construction – Multiples
And the statuses are:
- Red – ‘significantly outside historical norms and posing a higher risk than usual’
- Yellow – ‘modestly outside historical norms and posing a moderately higher risk than usual’
- Green – Within historical norms and not seen to be creating any immediate risk
These findings are generated from the Canadian Housing Health Check Report, which is compiled by the Royal Bank of Canada. It provides solid insights into the overall Canadian housing market and the contrasting regional risk profiles and trends.
So what’s the Monitoring Dashboard saying for 2017?
Toronto
Reds for affordability and HUC multiples indicate what is called ‘overheating.’ Home prices in the city are becoming increasingly unaffordable, and a downturn in the building of multiple-unit housing developments compounds the issue. Also relevant to this trend is the city’s seeming unwillingness to consider a foreign-buyer tax like the one Vancouver has put into place.
Vancouver
Vancouver sees the same reds, but one more in demographics as well with the fact the city is bulging at the seems and struggling to accommodate the rate of population growth it’s seeing.
Home prices in Vancouver have been falling in recent months, with the average price dropping 3.1 per cent as of the end of last year. Vancouver does have “solid economic underpinnings,” though and the market appears to be adjusting in an orderly fashion with the aforementioned foreign-buyer levy.
Calgary
Alberta’s capital would seem to have the greatest cause for concern according to the Dashboard, with reds for rental market balance, labour market, demographics, and new home inventory for multiples.
Increasing numbers of condos and rental units are sitting empty in Calgary, due to job losses that are in large part an outcome from the lower price of oil – a resource that’s a major contributor to Alberta’s economy. Accordingly, the market here is most at risk of any big city in Canada. Recent drops in condo construction and a slightly improving trend for home resales have been positive developments however, suggesting that risks might ease in the period ahead.
Here’s to hoping things look up all across the board with real estate in Canada, and to that end you should make sure you’re exploring every avenue to increase your business leads. Sign up with Real Estate Leads and receive qualified buyer and selling leads that are yours exclusively for your protected region of the country. Proven effective!
