Home Prices Across Canada Jumped 21% In August From A Year Ago

Home prices continue to rise across Canada.

Benchmark home prices rose 0.9% in August from July and were up 21% from last year, according to data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Sales as a share of new listings, a measure of market tightness, remained elevated at 72% in August, well above the long-term average of 55%.

With Canada in a national election, politicians have proposed fixes to the housing market ranging from help for first-time buyers to incentivizing construction. But with the imbalance between demand and supply already severe, most market analysts don’t expect the situation to change soon regardless of who wins the upcoming vote.

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Currently, the biggest obstacle to a new supply of houses are zoning rules controlled by municipal governments.

The number of homes sold nationally fell 0.5% in August, while the number of properties newly listed for sale rose 1.2%, according to CREA. Despite the slight bump in supply, the amount of housing stock available for sale in Canada only amounted to about 2.2 months of inventory, down from 2.3 months of inventory in July.