Toronto home prices fall at fastest pace in 15 months

financialpost.com:

Toronto’s home prices fell at the fastest pace in more than a year as the high interest rates that have pressured the market show little sign of easing.

The benchmark price of a home in Canada’s largest city fell to $1.13 million in October, down 1.7 per cent from September, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said Thursday. That’s the third straight monthly drop and the fastest pace of decline in 15 months. The seasonally adjusted number of sales also declined 5 per cent from the previous month, to 4,867 transactions, comparable to the deep market freeze of December and January.

Though the Bank of Canada held its benchmark interest rate last week at 5 per cent — a 22-year high — policymakers said they may still raise it further as inflation persists above their target. With steep borrowing costs pricing out many buyers and squeezing current mortgage holders, the potential for interest rates to remain elevated or rise further may pile even more pressure on Toronto’s housing market, and others across Canada.

“High borrowing costs and uncertainty on the direction of interest rates has seen many would-be home buyers remain on the sidelines in the short term,” Paul Baron, the Toronto real estate board’s president, said in a statement accompanying the data.

Even the number of sellers coming to market, which had been steadily rising for six months straight, dipped 2.9 per cent in October from the previous month, the real estate board data show. At slightly more than 14,000 homes, that still gave October the second most properties put up for sale for a year, which could be adding pressure on prices.