TORONTO – There are and will be more homes in the next two to three years: this is what emerges from a new report by Re/Max Canada, according to which the inventory of condos is increasing in most major markets Canadians. 

The report, which looked at condominium activity from January to August this year, found that British Columbia’s Fraser Valley led year-over-year home “stock” growth at 58.7 percent, followed by the Greater Toronto Area at 52.8% and Calgary at 52.4%; followed by Ottawa with a growth of 44.5% compared to the same period last year, Edmonton with 17.7%, Halifax with 8.1% and Vancouver with 7.3%.

The real estate company attributes the influx of supply to sellers’ expectations that demand will increase between the fourth quarter of this year and early 2025. “High interest rates and tight lending policies have put a strain on first-time buyers in recent years, preventing many from reaching their goal of homeownership despite having to pay record rental costs that mirrored their mortgage payments” says Re/Max Canada President, Christopher Alexander. “The current calm is the calm before the storm” …in fact, in the spring of 2025, pent-up demand is expected to fuel stronger market activity.

Another fact that emerges from the research, as highlighted in a Canadian Press article, is that the GTA was the only area where average apartment prices decreased year over year, with a drop of 1.9% per year. $732,648 for the period reviewed. Calgary led the way in average price growth, posting a 15% gain to reach $347,203. And the Greater Vancouver region is the most expensive market for apartments, with an average price of $823,550, up 1.9 per cent from 2023. Edmonton is the cheapest, with an average price of $200,951, but boasts the second-largest gain of any market, up 4% year-over-year. For the first eight months of the year, Edmonton saw a 36.7 per cent increase in sales compared to the same period in 2023, even as most other areas saw sales declines compared to last year. The GTA, Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley each saw sales declines of more than 8%. But inventory levels have continued to rise, as available resale units have been joined by an influx of new completions: 20,000 new condominium units are expected to hit the GTA in 2025, followed by 30,000 in 2026 and 40,000 in 2027.

The question arises spontaneously: where is the much-vaunted housing crisis “caused by immigrants” (as the federal government said), if there are (and there will also be in the coming years) so many apartments on the market? And if the problem is the accessibility (of prices) of these new homes, why don’t governments at all levels intervene with measures aimed at making them affordable (and maybe take them off the hands of speculators), rather than continually shouting about the housing emergency?

Photo by Ankush Nath Sehgal on Unsplash