Population changes<\/a> also played an important role in shaping the market, especially in the condo sector, Soper pointed out.<\/p>\nSoper said Canada saw a decline in immigration levels, including fewer temporary foreign workers and international students which he said hit urban condo markets the hardest. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe individual investor supplies a lot of our rental stock in big cities, when interest rates peaked, or mortgage rates peaked during the inflation spike post-pandemic, it made the math for small investors in rental stock condominiums, just not work,\u201d he said<\/p>\n
While lower rates in 2024 and 2025 were expected to bring them back, the rebound never fully materialized, Soper explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big part of that was their clients, their tenants, disappeared with the much smaller quotas,\u201d Soper said. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ALDWJHGBNHUJAV2FRIVT2JBGBE.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The CN Tower can be seen behind condos in Toronto’s Liberty Village community in Toronto on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Cole Burston<\/p>\n
The CN Tower can be seen behind condos in Toronto’s Liberty Village community in Toronto on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Cole Burston What 2026 may bring<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to 2026, Royal LePage forecasts condominiums will decrease 2.5 per cent to $563,918 year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2026. <\/p>\n
Soper gave Toronto and Vancouver as an example of where the softness in condo prices will likely persist, driven largely by oversupply and weaker investor demand. Meanwhile, the rest of the country is expected to see modest gains.<\/p>\n
Soper said this trend reflects a longer-term \u201ccompression\u201d that began after the pandemic housing boom, with more affordable cities steadily rising while Canada\u2019s most expensive markets cooled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat huge gap that has opened up over the last decade starting to normalize somewhat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3K7EZ3JMPPQNG5YLHLT7H2U5AQ.jpg\")
The downtown Vancouver skyline is seen in the distance beyond houses in Burnaby, B.C., on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Darryl Dyck The downtown Vancouver skyline is seen in the distance beyond houses in Burnaby, B.C., on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Darryl Dyck (DARRYL DYCK) <\/p>\n
Soper said price changes remain below the long-term annual average of five per cent and sales-to-listing ratios suggest neither buyers nor sellers have a decisive advantage. <\/p>\n
According to Soper, this proves a \u201cmore supportive\u201d environment for younger families who are first-time buyers. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey can add conditions into a deal, and home prices are softer, both in suburban and urban areas of our our most costly cities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Government involvement will also be a key factor in shaping what comes next. Soper said progress will depend on coordination across municipal, provincial and federal levels with policies translating into real construction and increased supply. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll levels of government in most regions of the country are saying the right things,\u201d he said. \u201cThe proof will be in execution.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philip Soper, CEO of Royal LePage, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the Canadian housing market for the new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[712,45,49,48,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-378215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UVXTGLPW4CAYFRKKIT7XNIKBY4.jpg\")
A crane is seen above a wood-frame condo project under construction as condo and office towers line the downtown skyline, in Vancouver, on Friday, July 4, 2025. While optimism is building in some parts of Canada for a second-half rebound in the real … A crane is seen above a wood-frame condo project under construction as condo and office towers line the downtown skyline, in Vancouver, on Friday, July 4, 2025. While optimism is building in some parts of Canada for a second-half rebound in the real estate market, condominium dwellers aiming to move up to a larger space face tough choices amid little sign of improvement for that segment. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Darryl Dyck <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/NBMUFNAEFK4T5QIWYF4GQHCYPY.jpg\")
Condo towers dot the Toronto skyline as a pedestrian makes his way through the COVID-19 restricted winter landscape on Thursday January 28, 2021. CMHC says that rental vacancies are up in Canada\u2019s largest cities with rents rising too. THE CANADIAN PR… Condo towers dot the Toronto skyline as a pedestrian makes his way through the COVID-19 restricted winter landscape on Thursday January 28, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Frank Gunn (Frank Gunn) <\/p>\n