Home prices in 2022 continue to come in strong as the Teranet-National Bank^TM HPI saw a seasonally adjusted monthly growth of 1.7% between January and February. This monthly increase now marks twenty consecutive months of rising housing prices. The recent momentum in home price growth was robust. Indeed, looking on a 3-month annualized basis, home prices registered at 20.5% in February, a level not seen since last summer. The current surge in valuations is likely stemming from strong demand in the resale market which has been favourable towards sellers for a while. There is also reason to think that borrowers who had locked in a lower rate are exercising that option in anticipation of higher mortgage interest rates. The widespread rise in home prices lends some credence to that thesis with prices rising in all 11 markets for a successive month. While this current wave may weaken as buyers are increasingly under pressure from tighter monetary policy, high immigration quotas (432K) should allow for a soft landing. That figure could also be significantly increased by Ottawa’s decision to allow a potentially “unlimited” number of Ukrainian refugees. All in all, while we do think the housing market could lose some momentum during 2022, the aforementioned factors may keep demand persistent.

March 2022