Housing Market at a Glance
Summary of July

Sales
The numbers comparing sales and prices in the GTA from June 2017 to June 2016 reveal that the prices of detached homes and condos are going up while the number of sales are going down. Notably, prices are going up for condos by up to 25% in Toronto West, Toronto Central, and Toronto East. The average prices of a home sold in the GTA were reported to be close to $794k, which is an 8% decline from a month earlier. However, June average prices were reportedly still up 6.3% from a year ago.
The Toronto Real Estate Board also reports that home prices in Toronto have fallen by 17.4% since peaking in April, which means that the trend is continuing to fall. The average selling price from July 1 to July 14 was $760,365, which is down by more than $30,000 since June. All prices have now fallen by more than $160,000 from April. However, we may simply be passing through the eye of the storm, as banks are increasing interest rates, which may have an effect on the cost of home ownership.
Mortgage Rates
RBC has raised mortgage rates as of July 6, 2017. Borrowers on three-year fixed rates with amortizations of 25 years or less will now pay 2.69 per cent, which is an increase of 25 basis points. For four-year rates and five-year rates, these have jumped up 30 points. This means that the rates for homeowners who want to take more than 25 years to pay down their mortgage have gone up even more, with up to 40 point increases for five-year rates.
Interest Rates
Lastly, Canada has officially joined the US in raising interest rates, which added to the speculation that the world’s central bankers are veering into a tightening cycle. The central bank’s benchmark rate was raised to 0.75% from 0.5%. As well, it is reported that future rate moves will be dictated by ongoing data. Moreover, the Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, and TD Bank announced that they are increasing their prime rates to 2.95% from 2.7%.
The Bank of Canada predicted that rates will be close to 2% by the middle of 2018, which would be up from the current 0.75%.
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