Canadian housing starts and prices to stabilize in 2014
Canada’s federal housing agency nudged up its forecast for housing starts and prices in 2014 and said sales and construction will be steady to higher in 2015 as an improving economy tempers the impact of rising mortgage rates.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC) shows more evidence of a soft landing for the Canadian housing market this week. The CMHC forecasts approximately187,300 new housing starts in 2014, and 184,900 in 2015; both forecasts a far cry from the 214,827 starts in 2012 when the market was at a record high.
After the tightening of mortgage regulations in the summer of 2012, the market started to cool, but bounced back strong in 2013. Economists are predicting a balanced 2014, and the CMHC predicts housing starts and sales equalizing, with only small gains in home prices.