Photo by Pam Menegakis on Unsplash.
Canada's housing market ranking continues to decline.
Knight Frank’s third-quarter report reveals Canada has fallen to number 44 in global housing market rankings. Just last year, Canada ranked 10th on the list and in 2016, Canada held the number 4 spot.
READ: November Home Prices On The Uptick Despite Slower Sales
The drastic drop can be attributed to policy changes purposely implemented by the provincial and federal governments to slow hot markets in B.C. and Ontario.
Changes included foreign buyers taxes, rising interest rates and, of course, the mortgage stress test which was implemented in January of this year.
READ: Canadian Housing Collapse Is Unlikely, According To CPA
On a regional scale, Vancouver and Toronto markets cooled significantly. Maybe even a little too much. Between Q2 of 2017 and 2018, the Toronto housing market plummeted falling from first to 137th.
Nationally, the market looks table, but housing market predictions for 2019 are difficult to make. On Wednesday, The Bank of Canada opted to keep interest rates steady at 1.75 per cent. But that might not be the case for long.
READ: Strong And Steady Or About To Burst? 2019 Canadian Housing Market Predictions
“Household credit and regional housing markets appear to be stabilizing following a significant slowdown in recent quarters. The bank continues to monitor the impact on both builders and buyers of tighter mortgage rules, regional housing policy changes, and higher interest rates,” the central bank said in a statement.
