The growing uncertainty facing Canada's housing market was the focus of the 6th Annual Real Estate Canada Forum held on Oct. 6 in Toronto. The closed-door forum brought together real estate investors amid concerns over continued interest rate hikes and the resulting market cool-down. A key takeaway was ... READ MORE >
Housing shortage
Existing home sales continued its slump, down 21% in 2022
Existing home sales fell for the fifth straight month as the housing market cooled significantly amid steep rises in mortgage rates and housing prices, the National Association of Realtors reported on Wednesday. Sales dropped 5.4% in June from a month earlier to 5.12 million on a seasonally adjusted ... READ MORE >
U.S. housing supply continues to fall amid rising mortgage rates
Housing starts and permits in the United States continued to fall in June amid higher interest rates and sharp declines in demand because of elevated housing prices, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday. There were 1.56 million new housing starts in June on an annualized basis, a 2.0% decline from May ... READ MORE >
As rates rise, Canada’s construction industry enters a new phase
In response to rising inflation, the Bank of Canada began a series of aggressive rate hikes this year, bringing its policy rate from an effective lower bound of 0.25% to 1.5% in June. One of the industries hit hardest by rising interest rates has been construction, and this slowdown now threatens to ... READ MORE >
The American housing deficit and what it takes to close it
Over the past 15 years, the United States has not built enough houses to keep up with growing demand. The problem intensified during the pandemic as demand skyrocketed because of the shift to working from home and historically low mortgage rates encouraged this move. We estimate that at the end of ... READ MORE >