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November marked a new home sale record

December 14th, 2017  |  Canadian Business

Even though the GTA experienced a slowed down housing market, last month still set a Canadian home sales record. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association sales rose 4% over the previous month, making it the highest November on Canadian record. The CREA went on to note that these numbers are unseasonable high for this time of year.

These numbers are high even without the help of the Toronto and surrounding area, which saw a dip in activity over the past month. This could be attributed to the new housing rules that were put in place to help cool the scorching GTA housing market. Housing prices in the Toronto area as well as Vancouver did still play a large role in the average cost of the Canadian home though. The average in November was $504,000, however if you take both Toronto and Vancouver out of the equation, the price drops by $120,000 to just over $381,000.

Some are speculating that buyers are looking to purchase their homes before the new mortgage rules come into place in January. The new rules will introduce stress tests for all uninsured borrowers, to help ensure that they could withstand higher interest rates. You can read the full list of rules and regulations put forth by The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions here.

"Some home buyers with more than a 20 per cent down payment may be fast-tracking their purchase decision in order to beat the tougher mortgage qualifications test coming into effect next year," CREA president Andrew Peck said. "It will be interesting to see whether December sales show further signs of home purchases being fast-tracked."