It’s still early days, but according to RBC, Ottawa and Montreal may be starting to show some of the familiar signs. Ottawa and Montreal’s housing costs take up 39 per cent and 43 per cent of local median incomes respectively and both cities appear to be attracting buyers who might have, until recently, had their eyes only on Toronto and Vancouver. Vancouver area sits at 88 per cent of income and Toronto is only slightly better at 78 per cent.
The real estate market of the nation’s capital may have seen the strongest year ever in 2017, noted RBC. Prices haven’t been rising this fast in seven years and sellers are now “calling the shots,” reads the report.
ReMax sees the city’s average residential rising nine per cent this year to an expected $394,000, up from around $360,000 in 2016. And Royal LePage expects prices to keep climbing in 2018, as a strong regional economy keeps buyers coming to a market where homes for sale are becoming scarcer.
As for the incoming mortgage stress test, it will be “quickly absorbed, limiting impacts on both home sales and prices,” according to Royal LePage. Read full story…
Source: Global News