What they found was a housing market where prices grew way out of affordability range for buyers. Between 2015 and 2018, the rising cost of home ownership would have lowered annual home sales nationwide by a hefty 56,000, the Bank's report estimated.would have been due to the mortgage stress test, the Bank found. All the rest would have been due to rising prices and hikes to mortgage rates.
"Much of the previous strength in resale activity was influenced by extrapolative expectations. ... These expectations quickly faded following the policy measures," the report stated. Much as we'd like to blame foreign buyers or government policy, it seems we kind of did this to ourselves.Bank of Canada,"Disentangling the Factors Driving Housing Resales," April, 2019