Vancouver and Toronto See Housing Prices Rise Again
The price of real estate rose again last month in Canada’s two most valuable real estate regions. The crisp winds of October brought with them a rebound in the Toronto and Vancouver markets as continued as interest rates remain low.
Greater Vancouver home sales were up by more than 45 per percent last month compared with a year earlier, while the Greater Toronto Area sales were up by just under 15 per cent.
Gains for the Vancouver region followed a similar jump this past September, which marks the fourth month in a row the area saw a significant rise in sales after significant declines at the start of 2019 year.
Toronto area real estate sales were also rebounding from similar 
declines at the start of the year. However, those declines were significantly less dramatic than what Vancouver went through.
Toronto Real Estate Board president Michael Collins said that the real estate in the Greater Toronto have been helped along by the population and economy gains.
“A strong regional economy obviously fuels population growth. All of these new households need a place to live, and many have the goal of purchasing a home,” he said in a statement.
Housing Prices in Toronto
For Toronto, the thriving economy and demand have pushed real estate prices even higher. The composite benchmark price rose by almost 6 per cent in October for the strongest annual growth rate since the end of 2017 – when the average selling price was up close to 6 per cent to over $850,000.
Housing Prices in Vancouver
In Vancouver, sales have been boosted in part by price declines.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver also released a statement that said that the composite benchmark price was down by more than 6 percent from a year ago. This brought the average price to $992,900. Down by 1.7 per cent over the past six months.
“Buyers are returning to the market with more confidence 
than the first half of the year,” said Ashley Smith, president of the Vancouver area board.
She continued, “With prices edging down over the last year and interest rates remaining low, hopeful home buyers are becoming more active this fall.”
The Vancouver-area real estate market has seen a significantly steeper correction in recent years after the provincial government introduced numerous measures, including a foreign buyer tax. This tax was put in place to help cool the market. Ontario also imposed a foreign buyer tax but has not imposed the vacant home and other speculation taxes imposed in British Columbia.
The federal Liberals also promised during the election campaign to impose a one percent speculation and vacancy tax for properties owned by non-resident non-Canadians.
Real estate markets have seen an increase this year as fixed mortgage rates have dropped for much of the year after increasing for much of the past two years.
