July 16, 2025
Intangible Assets

Canada is seeing an ‘affordability window’


Phil Soper, President and CEO of Royal LePage, joins BNN Bloomberg to provide a Q2 house price update and market forecast.

Canadians currently looking to purchase a home may be in for a pleasant surprise, as many real estate markets across the country are seeing improved affordability, says the president and CEO of Royal LePage.

“Depending on the quarter, if you look over the last three years, wages and salaries have been 50 per cent and 100 per cent, or double, the long-term norm,” Phil Soper told BNN Bloomberg in a Tuesday interview.

“Whereas, if you go back over the last three years, home prices are off in aggregate maybe 11 per cent… so, we’ve had home prices declining, the cost of borrowing declining and wages and salaries stronger than typical; it’s an affordability window we haven’t seen in the country since the mid-90s.”

Soper’s comments came after Royal LePage released its quarterly House Price Survey and Market Forecast, which found that aggregate home prices were mostly flat in the second quarter of this year, rising by a modest 0.3 per cent year-over-year.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) also released its quarterly housing market forecast on Tuesday. The association said it expects a three per cent decline in the number of residential home sales this year compared to 2024, the second time it’s downgraded its forecast this year.

A sluggish start to the year paired with an unusually slow spring buying season were two of the main factors that kept aggregate prices from appreciating significantly last quarter, Royal LePage said, but Soper noted that homes continue to be listed.

“We have lots of inventory. It’s enough to take a surge in demand and not have a surge in home prices, so we’re not expecting any spike in home prices,” he said.

In Royal Lepage’s report, Soper said the first half of 2025 was marked by buyer hesitation due to a variety of factors from U.S. tariff threats to geopolitical uncertainty and a federal election.

“Yet, market fundamentals remain sound,” he argued in the release.

“Interest is strong while activity is subdued, reflecting the uncertainty weighing on consumer sentiment. Encouragingly, June’s robust employment report may help rebuild confidence and bring more buyers off the sidelines in the months ahead.”



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