Rate cuts haven’t shaken Canada’s real estate market out of its slump
The recent lower mortgage rate environment has yet to revive Canada’s slumping housing market, a new report has found.
RBC Economics published a report this month examining the impact of two rate cuts by the Bank of Canada, concluding the decreases have failed to spur activity in most major Canadian real estate resale markets.
The Bank of Canada cut rates 25 basis points in June and again in July, but through the summer most markets did not see an increase in sales activity, though new listings did rise. Calgary led major cities in sales declines in August on a percentage basis. Sales fell nearly 20 per cent year over year. At the same time, new listings increased 13 per cent year over year in Calgary, also the highest among the six urban markets in the study. Vancouver saw the next largest decline in sales at 17 per cent while new listings there grew about four per cent.
