Buying a house may remain out of reach for many Canadians for the foreseeable future, with mortgage costs unlikely to fall enough to offset lofty home prices and weak spending power, economists and real estate agents say. 0 Even with expectations that Bank of Canada will keep cutting rates in the coming months, the issue of home affordability - which has strangled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s poll numbers - is unlikely to fade before the next election.
The mandate for the Liberal minority government ends at the end of October 2025, but an election could come well before then, with the Conservative opposition spoiling to end Trudeau’s nine-year run at the top.
“You won’t get back to an affordable range for housing on a sustained basis for a decade,” Tony Stillo, director at forecasting and analysis group Oxford Economics, said last week at a conference.
That’s not true at all. A house owned in an appreciating neighborhood or that is thoughtfully invested in (appropriate upgrades) can increase in value over time. Moving to a different neighborhood or selling and buying under different market conditions can allow regular people to realize real gains.
If the market conditions are different, your house is very likely going to be subject to them as well. Different neighbourhood falls under downgrade.