CMHC Vancouver prices up 13.9%
Hot markets lead to price gains
The sales-to-new-listings ratio is an indicator of
the relative balance between demand and supply
in the existing home market. In markets where
sales are high relative to new listings, potential
buyers have less choice and typically have less
bargaining power.
For Canada as a whole, a salesto-
new-listings ratio above 50 % is associated
with rapidly rising prices – a “sellers’ market”,
although this threshold does vary from market to
market.
With most of the existing home markets in
Canada firmly within sellers’ market territory in
2005, the average MLS® price increased by 10.2
per cent in 2005. The strongest MLS® price
growth was in Western Canada, with British
Columbia and all three Prairie provinces recording
increases above the national average. Across
the major markets in Canada, the housing markets
with the strongest price growth were in Victoria
(17.1 per cent), Vancouver (13.9 per cent), and
Calgary (12.6 per cent). The Regional Municipality
of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) is particularly noteworthy
as multi-billion dollar investment in Alberta’s
oil sands heated up the local real estate market.
Price growth in central and eastern Canada’s
existing home markets was more subdued in
2005, 6.6 per cent in Toronto, 4.3 per cent Ottawa,
7.8 per cent in Montreal and 7.6 per cent in
Halifax.