The average price of a house in Canada rose 10.8% year-over-year to $626,042 in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a new report by real estate broker Royal LePage.
The new report and its findings were compiled from data in 53 real estate markets across Canada. By housing type, the Royal LePage’s report says that the median price of a two-storey home in the country rose 11.1% year-over-year in the fourth quarter to $741,924, and the median price of a bungalow climbed 7.1% to $522,963.
The company added that the median price of a condominium grew faster than any other housing type studied, rising 14.3% to $420,823 on a year-over-year basis due to gains in many of the largest markets where condos are popular. In the Greater Toronto Area, the median price of a condo grew 19.5% year-over-year to $476,421, while in the City of Toronto, the cost of a condo rose 19.6% to $515,578.
In Vancouver, condominiums followed a similar pattern during the quarter, rising 20.2% to $651,885, while the median price of a condo unit in the City of Vancouver rose 18.7% to $775,806. The company said that condos were the only segment of the housing sector to appreciate on a quarter-over-quarter basis among all housing types, rising 1.1% in the final three months of the year.
“To prospective homeowners in our largest cities, condominiums represent the last bastion of affordability,” said Royal LePage President Phil Soper in a news release. “This is especially true for first-time buyers whose purchasing power has been reduced by tightening mortgage regulations.”
