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It\u2019s turning into a bumpy road to recovery for Canada\u2019s housing market.<\/a><\/p>\n Home sales rose 0.9 per cent in October from the month before, rebounding from a 1.7 per cent decline, according to data from the Canadian Real Estate Association<\/a> out yesterday.<\/p>\n That\u2019s progress from September\u2019s setback, but economists call the momentum \u201cfragile.\u201d<\/p>\n Inventory has been building in the market for two years, especially in Ontario and British Columbia, where homes for sale reached a decades high in the spring, said Robert Hogue<\/a>, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada.<\/a><\/p>\n However, new listings have now begun to moderate and were down 1.4 per cent nationally in October from the month before.<\/p>\n This moderation comes with a \u201ctentative reprieve\u201d from the price corrections of 2024 and early 2025, he said.<\/p>\n The MLS Home Price Index ticked higher in Ontario in October, including the Greater Toronto Area, and prices stabilized in B.C. for the second month in a row. After six months of declines, prices in Alberta picked up.<\/p>\n However, \u201cwe think it\u2019s still too early to determine whether they represent a sustained inflection point, or a temporary pause in a broader downtrend,\u201d said Hogue.<\/p>\n Nationally, prices were up 0.2 per cent in October from the month before, but still down 3 per cent from a year ago and more than 17 per cent below the peak in early 2022, said Robert Kavcic<\/a>, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has transitioned from a steep correction to a long and slow grind for Canadian home prices, and we suspect that will continue into 2026,\u201d he said in a note Monday.<\/p>\n Buyers have been kept on the sidelines by higher interest rates and uncertainty over jobs as U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs<\/a> rock the economy.<\/p>\n The Bank of Canada<\/a>\u2018s first interest rate cut in September after a five-month hiatus likely boosted sales last month.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, with uncertainty expected to remain elevated, any improvement in the housing market in the coming months is likely to be modest,\u201d said Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist at Alberta Centra.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main risk to the housing market remains a deterioration in the labour market, leading to significant job losses.\u201d<\/p>\n National numbers, mind you, don\u2019t tell the whole story of Canadian real estate. Beyond Ontario and B.C., some areas of the country remain firmly \u201cseller friendly,\u201d said Hogue.<\/p>\n Quebec is particularly hot, with Quebec City prices jumping 17.5 per cent in October, the largest increase in the country\u2019s tracked areas. Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador are also experiencing tight supply and steady demand, pushing prices higher.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n Calgary, the hottest real estate market in the country not so long ago, has cooled significantly. Sales were down 12 per cent in October and prices down 2 per cent.<\/p>\n Ontario and B.C. remain vulnerable.<\/p>\n \u201cIn markets with region-specific risks, like Toronto, Windsor, Guelph and others, downward momentum is strong,\u201d said MortgageLogic.news<\/a> strategist Robert McLister.<\/p>\n \u201cShort-term bounces don\u2019t mean a bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n Have you noticed that your neighourhood Toys \u201cR\u201d Us location has closed, or maybe that it\u2019s up for sale? Well, the team at the Financial Post Western Bureau did, too. They\u2019ve put together a five-part series called The Last Toy Stores exploring the changing landscape of toy retail in Canada as the country\u2019s largest chain shrinks its footprint. You can read the first part, detailing the changes at Toys \u201cR\u201d Us, here<\/a>, and visit the series home page<\/a> at Financialpost.com every day this week for a new instalment.<\/p>\n \u00a0Sign up here<\/a> to get Posthaste delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n Statistics Canada released its consumer price index<\/a> for October Monday and the biggest jump on the charts went to telephone services. The 7.9 per cent increase from the year before was the highest since 1982, said BMO Capital Markets chief economist Douglas Porter.<\/p>\n Rent, up 5.2 per cent from 4.8 per cent the month before, was the biggest driver of inflation because of its heavy weight on the consumer price index, said Porter, but Canadians are also paying much more for insurance and property taxes.<\/p>\n Home insurance was up 6.8 per cent over last year and vehicle coverage was up 7.3 per cent. Annual property taxes were up 5.6 per cent and that\u2019s on top of last year\u2019s 30-year high hike of 6 per cent, said Porter.<\/p>\n Food prices, however, pulled back to a 3.4 per cent annual rise from 4 per cent in September, though StatsCan added: \u201cprices remained elevated and have exceeded overall inflation for nine consecutive months.\u201d<\/p>\n The Swedish royal family arrives in Ottawa today to begin a three-day state visit alongside a delegation of top government ministers and representatives from dozens of Swedish companies.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Carney to visit the UAE and attend the G20 Leaders\u2019 Summit in South Africa<\/p>\n Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is set to release its decision on a new definition of Canadian content today<\/p>\n Today\u2019s Data: United States NAHB Housing Market Index<\/p>\n Earnings: Home Depot Inc., Medtronic PLC<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n An 83-year-old reader has some stocks in bitcoin and gold royalty exchange-traded funds that have done very well. But she wants to know if they are really a hedge against a financial crash and devaluation of the dollar because they are denominated in a currency. She doesn\u2019t want, or know how, to invest in physical bitcoins. FP Answers has some suggestions and some practical investing options. Read more<\/a><\/p>\n Are you worried about having enough for retirement? Do you need to adjust your portfolio? Are you starting out or making a change and wondering how to build wealth? Are you trying to make ends meet? Drop us a line at\u00a0wealth@postmedia.com<\/a>\u00a0with your contact info and the gist of your problem and we\u2019ll find some experts to help you out while writing a Family Finance story about it (we\u2019ll keep your name out of it, of course).<\/p>\n Want to learn more about mortgages? Mortgage strategist Robert McLister\u2019s Financial Post column <\/a>can help navigate the complex sector, from the latest trends to financing opportunities you won\u2019t want to miss. Plus check his mortgage rate page<\/a> for Canada\u2019s lowest national mortgage rates, updated daily.<\/p>\n Visit the Financial Post\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a> for interviews with Canada\u2019s leading experts in business, economics, housing, the energy sector and more.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s Posthaste was written by Pamela Heaven<\/a>\u00a0with additional reporting from Financial Post staff, Canadian Press and Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Have a story idea, pitch, embargoed report, or a suggestion for this newsletter? Email us at\u00a0posthaste@postmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the business news you need to know \u2014 add\u00a0financialpost.com<\/a>\u00a0to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s turning into a bumpy road to recovery for Canada\u2019s housing market. Home sales rose 0.9 per cent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,168654,99,2065,96121,86425,164,11152,168652,168653,51338],"class_list":["post-293490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bmo-capital-markets","tag-business","tag-canada","tag-canadian-real-estate-association","tag-chief-economist","tag-economy","tag-housing-market","tag-robert-hogue","tag-robert-kavcic","tag-royal-bank-of-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/p>\n
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