Just over a third of BC residents feel that home prices will rise by this time next year, according to the newly released 2017 RBC Home Ownership Poll. That’s a drop from last year’s poll, when 50 per cent of the province’s residents said they expected home prices to rise.
In that decrease, BC bucks the national trend, as all other areas of the country saw an increase in the number of people who expected home prices to rise: 44 per cent of Canadians expect house prices to rise over the next year, the poll shows, up from 36 per cent who held that expectation last year.
Looking at the numbers another way, a new CIBC poll shows that 54 per cent of Canadians expect home prices will continue to rise indefinitely, while 40 per cent think prices will start to drop within the next five years.
More than half of BC residents (60 per cent) say they are currently living in a sellers’ market, the RBC poll shows, up from 53 per cent last year. Ontario slightly edges out BC with the number of people who view their home province as a sellers’ market, at 61 per cent, with all other areas of the country perceived to be buyers’ markets.
Price Expectations Impact Buying and Selling Plans
While 82 per cent of Canadians say buying a home is a good investment, only 25 per cent plan to do so within the next two years, the RBC poll shows, down 29 per cent from last year.
At the same time, among those planning to sell, 62 per cent say the current cost of buying a new home is making them “reluctant” to do so right now according to the CIBC poll. The CIBC poll found that 73 per cent of Canadians plan to sell their homes eventually, with a quarter planning to do so within the next five years.
Millennials Upsize, Boomers Downsize
Baby boomers and millennials have different motivations for selling their homes, the CIBC poll found. The strongest reason for those aged 55 and over to sell their homes (26 per cent) is to finance retirement, while for millennials the biggest motivation (46 per cent) is to buy another or larger home. About 22 per cent of all Canadians planning to sell their home want to do so to “cash out … before prices fall,” according to the CIBC poll.
