Once burning-hot Canadian house prices are expected to tumble a total 17.5% from their peak, roughly double the fall during the 2008-09 financial crisis, in a slowdown already well underway, according to a Reuters poll of market experts.
A succession of rapid-fire Bank of Canada interest rate rises that has taken the overnight rate from near-zero to 3.75% in just eight months has removed some steam from the market, with a doubling in the average five-year mortgage rate to near 5%.
But after a more than 50% rise in house prices during the pandemic on top of what was already seen as one of the world’s most expensive property markets, that expected fall would not be enough to bring prices to affordable levels….