Seasonally adjusted figures released Tuesday put the benchmark price at C$924,600, which is $648,280 in U.S. dollars. That is a 0.5% month-over-month decline and roughly 4.7% lower than September last year.
Deals slowed for a second straight month, with sales down 5.2% from August. Fresh supply also eased, as new listings arriving in September fell 3.8% from the prior month.
Housing markets turn city by city, and borrowing costs usually lead the way. Market Briefs reads housing data free every weekday.
The market's chill is sharpening as a worldwide climb in bond yields filters into higher mortgage rates. Bloomberg data show the Government of Canada 5-year yield rose by more than 0.33 percentage point in September alone and has gained over 0.50 percentage point since late June.
Most of the recent bump in borrowing costs traces back to factors outside Canada: higher fuel prices linked to the war in Iran, inflation that has been hard to shake, and growing skepticism in bond markets about government debt levels around the world. All of that is landing alongside heightened uncertainty tied to Canada's trade fight with the U.S., which flared again last month when the U.S. put a ban in place on Canadian alcoholic drinks and other goods. Jason Mercer, the chief information officer for the real estate board, said in a statement, "Would-be homebuyers want to take advantage of today's more affordable housing market," "But they need to be confident that their employment situation will remain solid and inflation will not put pressure on borrowing costs over the long term."
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