Canada: House prices fall in September; housing starts rise
According to the Teranet-National Bank House Price Index, home prices slid 1.3% in monthly terms in September, which contrasted August’s 0.6% increase. September’s figure marked the worst reading since November 2022.
On an annual basis, home prices rose 3.0% in September, which was notably better than August’s 1.1% expansion and marked the best result since October 2022.
Meanwhile, housing starts rose 8% in September from August. As a result, housing starts averaged higher in Q3 than in Q2, boding well for residential investment in the third quarter. Our panelists see housing starts averaging slightly lower in 2024 than in 2023.
On the outlook, TD Economics’ Rishi Sondhi said:
“Recent government actions, such as eliminating the GST on purpose-built rental buildings and changing zoning laws to allow more density should help support construction moving forward. That said, we still expect starts to cool through next year, as past declines in home sales filter through into homebuilding.”