B.C.'s Condo Developer Bailout, No Rate Hikes & Canada's Sluggish Housing Market

This month on the Real Estate Roundtable, I'm joined by Vancouver realtor Steve Saretsky and Toronto mortgage broker David Larock to break down the latest developments in Canada's housing market. We discuss why housing markets in Toronto and Vancouver remain sluggish despite a modest improvement in market balance. New listings have been falling for several months, helping reduce excess inventory, but sales activity remains subdued and buyers continue to have the upper hand in many segments. We also examine the outlook for interest rates. For the past four months, financial markets had been pricing in the possibility of rate hikes later this year. However, easing geopolitical tensions following the Iran conflict and renewed trade uncertainty after the extension of Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement failed to materialize have shifted expectations. With the economic outlook becoming more uncertain, additional rate hikes appear to be off the table—for now. Finally, we discuss the British Columbia government's proposal to purchase unsold condominium inventory from struggling developers and convert those units into rent-to-own housing. Is this a practical way to expand homeownership opportunities, or another government intervention that risks distorting the housing market? All that and more in this month's Real Estate Roundtable.