Canadian home prices forecasted to be flat this fall amid high interest rates: report

TORONTO – A new report forecasts Canada's real estate market will be softer this fall with average home prices predicted to remain flat.

In its fall housing market outlook, Re/Max Canada says the forecast comes as the housing market deals with high interest rates and a lack of homes for sale.

According to an online survey, the report says 33 per cent of Canadians who are interested in buying and/or selling a home in the next 12 months will wait and see how interest rate changes play out before buying.

Mortgage rates have risen sharply as the Bank of Canada has raised interest rates in an effort to bring inflation under control and back to its target of two per cent.

Bucking the overall trend, Re/Max says there are a few outliers where home prices are expected to increase, including larger markets such as the Greater Toronto Area, Calgary and Sudbury, Ont.

The online survey of 1,517 Canadians was done by Leger between July 21 and 23.

The poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples.