The Canadian Real Estate Association expects home sales to fall less than 1% and prices to drop nearly 6% from 2022, which ended with the market in a sluggish state as sellers and buyers sat on the sidelines.
The association's forecast amounts to $495,858 changing hands in 2023 and is based on sales "more or less" stabilizing since the summer, "suggesting that the downward adjustment in sales activity from rising interest rates and high uncertainty may be in the rearview mirror."
The same factors will also hold back the median home price, which CREA expects to reach $662,103 in 2023.
By 2024, CREA expects home sales to increase 10.2% as markets continue to return to normal, while it expects the national median home price to increase 3.5% from 2023 to 2024 to about $685,056, down from 2022 but on par with 2021.