The Quarter 1 2018 Royal LePage House Price Survey was released.

Key highlights from the national release include:

• The Royal LePage National House Price Composite, compiled from proprietary property data in 63 of the nation's largest real estate markets, showed that the price of a home in Canada increased 6.2 per cent year-over-year to $605,512 in the first quarter of 2018. 

• At the outset of the quarter, sales activity levels fell at both national and regional levels year-over-year, in part due to an observed "pull-ahead" in transactions at the end of 2017, as buyers sought to solidify home purchases before the new mortgage rules came into effect. 

• Greater Vancouver witnessed the most significant condominium price gains among Canada's major metropolitan areas, posting a 19.8 per cent increase to a median price of $668,342. In the GTA, the median price of a condominium increased 11.9 per cent year-over-year to $471,854 in the first quarter, and decreased slightly on a quarter-over-quarter basis, decreasing 1.3 per cent. Bucking this trend, condominiums in the Greater Montreal Area appreciated 3.5 per cent to $314,554 year-over-year compared to two-storey homes, which appreciated 8.3 per cent to $492,751. 

• Beginning in the first quarter of 2018, seven real estate markets were added to the Royal LePage National House Price Composite. The new regions are: Abbotsford (BC), Burlington (ON), Guelph (ON), Barrie (ON), Thunder Bay (ON), Saguenay (QC) and Fort McMurray (AB).

• British Columbia was a leading Canadian economic powerhouse in 2017, but its growth is expected to slow over the next two years as measures to curb the housing market set in. However, in turn, fewer home listings are expected to put continued upward pressure on prices. The province’s unemployment rate was 4.7 per cent in March, well below the national average. Furthermore, B.C. is one of the few provinces that is adding population via three core channels: natural increase, international immigrants, as well as through interprovincial in-migration, further supporting housing demand in the region.

• In the first quarter of 2018, the aggregate price of a home in Greater Vancouver rose 10.3 per cent year-over-year to $1,280,014, while the City of Vancouver saw an increase of 10.1 per cent to $1,487,048. Meanwhile, surrounding suburbs continued to see relatively high year-over-year appreciation as a result of increasing demand for lower-priced properties outside the city center. During the same period, Langley, Surrey, Coquitlam and Burnaby posted home price increases of 18.5 per cent, 16.3 per cent, 15.3 per cent and 11.7 per cent to an aggregate price of $933,725, $879,848, $1,088,334 and $1,132,570, respectively.

• Q1 2018 Royal LePage House Price Survey was released.

• About the Royal LePage House Price Survey

  The Royal LePage House Price Survey provides information on the three most common types of housing in Canada, in 63 of the nation’s largest real estate markets. Housing values in the House Price Survey are based on the Royal LePage National House Price Composite, produced quarterly through the use of company data in addition to data and analytics from its sister company, RPS Real Property Solutions, the trusted source for residential real estate intelligence and analytics in Canada.  Commentary on housing and forecast values are provided by Royal LePage residential real estate experts, based on their opinions and market knowledge.

• Reprinted with permission.

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