SEPTEMBER 2022 Monthly Housing Market Trends Report

Canada's housing market experienced a minor bump in prices for August 2022, the first monthly increase in Canada’s average home price since February. For August 2022, the average home price in Canada was $637,673, up 1% from last month after decreasing on a monthly basis for five months in a row. Nationally, sales during the month of August 2022 are down 24.7% year-over-year to roughly 38,310 transactions.

Whether Canada’s housing market is seeing prices stabilize after hitting an all-time price record in February 2022 remains to be seen, as Canada’s average home price remains 4% lower year-over-year. Among factors that have spooked Canadian home buyers have been rapidly rising Canadian mortgage rates, brought about by Bank of Canada rate hikes. While Canada’s inflation rate has cooled off in recent months, current elevated levels of inflation in Canada continue to put pressure on policymakers to increase interest rates.

Compared to February 2022's peak of $816,720, the average sold price in Canada is now 22% off from that record-breaking month. This means that the average home price in Canada has now fallen by 22%, or close to $179,000, in the span of six months. Meanwhile, the MLS Benchmark Price continued to see positive annual price growth. Canada’s benchmark home price increased 7% year-over-year to $760,400 for August 2022, yet is down by 3% month-over-month. If the benchmark home price continues this trend, it will dip into negative annual change territory in the coming months.

While the average Canadian home price is down 4% year-over-year, the performance of housing markets across the country has been mixed. Some areas continued to see declines in home prices and sales, while others experienced increases on a monthly basis.