Canadian housing sale at 20-year lows

North American stock markets advanced this week on the bet that the next US inflation report due this week will show signs of cooling down which may lead to the US central bank slowing its rate hike speed. S&P 500 and Nasdaq have added %2.08 and %2.64 in January and Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite climbed 2.65%.

The markets are expective the inflation report on Thursday to be better than expected which would lead to a market rally, but Fed officials have underlined that the inflation might stay over 5% for longer than expected. In such a scenario, even if the central bank slows down, they will not start cutting rates soon. 

Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada has signaled that they are done with raising the rates at 4.25%, putting tremendous upward pressure on mortgage rates and household income. The new building permits had a share increase of 14.1% in November on both residential and non-residential, but it may be years till the new supply hits the market.

 Housing prices continue to fall with Canadian home prices at 632,802 in November, according to Canadian Real Estate Association, marking a 12% decline from the same month last year. TD bank expects prices to decline 20% from their peak to trough in the first half of 2023 with the lowest number of houses sold in over 20 years.