Canada: House prices fall in November; housing starts decline
According to the Teranet-National Bank House Price Index, house prices dropped 0.9% in November, following the 1.0% fall in October. This marked the third straight monthly decline and likely reflected in part the effect of high interest rates. On an annual basis, house prices increased 3.2% in November, up from October’s +2.7% reading.
Meanwhile, housing starts decreased 22% in November from October, and in October–November averaged lower than in Q3, boding poorly for residential investment in the quarter.
On housing starts, TD Economics’ Rishi Sondhi said:
“[The] data is consistent with our view that starts will trend lower moving forward, as past weakness in home sales flow through to new supply. However, we’re anticipating some bounce-back took place in December, consistent with rising permit issuance in recent months. Government actions (such as eliminating the GST on purpose-built rental building) coupled with robust population growth will likely keep the level of starts elevated through 2024, even with the anticipated downtrend.”