{"id":542597,"date":"2026-07-15T11:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/542597\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T11:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:54:11","slug":"crea-further-downgrades-forecast-for-canadian-home-sales-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/542597\/","title":{"rendered":"CREA further downgrades forecast for Canadian home sales this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Canadian Real Estate Association now expects 463,336 transactions in 2026, 1.4 per cent lower than last year.Christopher Katsarov\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s national real estate association has further downgraded its sales forecast for the year, saying the tepid increase in home sales in Ontario<\/a> will not offset declines in other parts of the country. <\/p>\n

This marks the second time in six months that the Canadian Real Estate Association<\/a> has lowered its sales estimate for 2026.<\/p>\n

The association now expects 463,336 transactions this year, which would be 1.4 per cent lower than 2025. In April, CREA predicted that purchases would be 1 per cent higher than last year. In January, the forecast was for an increase of 5.1 per cent.<\/p>\n

CREA said its latest downgrade reflects a \u201cfaster-than-expected slowdown in parts of Canada\u201d that are dealing with lower migration and population growth. That includes Atlantic Canada. <\/p>\n

Ontario, the country\u2019s dominant real estate market, is expected to see sales climb by 1.7 per cent this year. At the same time, transactions are predicted to fall in the other provinces, with the largest declines set for Alberta, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. <\/p>\n

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Those provinces have been hot spots for investors and other potential homebuyers because the properties there are cheaper than those in Ontario and B.C. But rising prices in those markets have deterred some buyers. And the federal government\u2019s cap on foreign students has made it harder for individual investors to make money from student rentals. <\/p>\n

CREA forecast the average home price across the country will reach $686,710 this year. That would be 1.1 per cent higher than 2025. <\/p>\n

Over the past few months, home prices have not been falling as steeply and sales have been increasing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does feel like the market is kind of finding its footing,\u201d said Shaun Cathcart, CREA\u2019s senior economist.<\/p>\n

There were 38,014 sales in June after adjusting for seasonal influences. That was 0.5 per cent higher than in May and the third straight month that the volume of transactions rose.<\/p>\n

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Overall, June sales were 6 per cent lower than the 10-year average. Meanwhile, the typical home price was $657,700, which was unchanged from May. Compared with a year ago, the Home Price Index was down 3.6 per cent. CREA said that was the smallest year-over-year decline since last October.<\/p>\n

The number of homeowners that put their properties up for sale declined. Last month, there were 1.3 per cent fewer new listings compared to May. That occurred even though mortgage delinquencies have been rising.<\/p>\n

Mr. Cathcart said \u201cvirtually every metric\u201d was moving in the right direction and reiterated that there is pent-up demand from first-time homebuyers.<\/p>\n

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Fixed mortgage rates are lower than just after the Middle East war started in late February, according to CREA. And although oil prices are relatively high and inflation has crept up, there is less certainty that Canada\u2019s central bank will raise interest rates later this year. <\/p>\n

\u201cRate hikes from the Bank of Canada this year are much less likely than they were just a month ago,\u201d Mr. Cathcart said. \u201cThis is good news for borrowers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stable mortgage rates along with the fact that home prices are no longer dropping sharply in most of the country, may give buyers confidence to enter the market. <\/p>\n

In the Toronto region, the country\u2019s second priciest market, the Home Price Index was up 0.2 per cent from May to June. There was a similar trend in other areas close to the city such as Mississauga, Oakville-Milton and Hamilton-Burlington. <\/p>\n

CREA expects the second half of this year to be more active than the first six months. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Canadian Real Estate Association now expects 463,336 transactions in 2026, 1.4 per…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[246,229,247,220,218,248,114,245,217,236,237,232,219,216,184,243,242,235,227,259,221,222,234,85,46,230,231,224,249,225,254,255,257,252,256,250,253,223,240,241,238,239,251,228,125,244,233,226,126,258],"class_list":["post-542597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}