"Mortgage broker Mary Sialtsis, in Toronto, where sales have been slowest, said she saw homes taking longer to sell this year, as many of her clients held off buying amid economic anxieties. It's a little bit slower right now than it has been in the past, she told Al Jazeera before the rate announcement. During the pandemic, prices really spiked there was almost like a buying frenzy. Things have tempered quite a bit since then."
"Many would-be homebuyers had been reluctant to invest amid United States President Donald Trump's chaotic imposition of tariffs on Canadian imports, she said. As a result, many sellers were pressured to settle for less. There's just been, I think, a general hesitancy, Sialtsis said. But last month, national home sales rose just more than 1 percent, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the fifth consecutive month of small increases, as average house prices climbed nearly 2 percent from last year."
After a major slowdown in Canada's high-priced housing market, real estate sales are gradually inching up. The Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.5 percent on September 17, mirroring a US move, to help lift home sales and prices. The Canadian Real Estate Association reported national home sales rose just over 1 percent last month, the fifth consecutive month of small increases, while average house prices climbed nearly 2 percent year-over-year. Pandemic-driven price spikes and US tariffs had increased buyer hesitancy and pressured sellers to accept lower offers. Real estate represents about CA$400 billion, roughly 13 percent of GDP.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]