“Things have turned out much better than anticipated,” says Phil Soper, president of Royal LePage.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails or any newsletter. Postmedia Network Inc.
The change in the national picture, however, is much more significant. Originally, Royal LePage forecast the average national price would fall one per cent by the end of 2023. Now, the revised forecast expects the average price to grow by 4.5 per cent, reaching $750,000 by the end of the year. Yet unemployment remains low; consumers are still spending, and foreclosures have not increased, Soper says.
Soper notes the downturn in the late 2000s in Canadian real estate only lasted about nine months with prices declining about six per cent. Soper notes the gain does not represent new growth. Instead, it is growth off the bottom of the market reached earlier this year and largely marks a return to pre-pandemic conditions more aligned with historical norms.“It didn’t have the excess prior to and during the pandemic seen in other parts of the country.”