More first-time home buyers entering market

Wed. Apr 15 - 4:47 AM
TORONTO (CP) — Real-estate experts say low mortgage rates and more affordable homes in many markets are drawing out first-time home buyers in droves, but one independent analyst says the correction in Canadian home prices hasn’t been nearly as dramatic as some believe.

Phil Soper, chief executive of Brookfield Real Estate Services, which operates under the Royal LePage banner, said prices are falling and lenders are lowering their rates, making the market more attractive to people looking to buy their first home.

"The uptick in first-time home buyer purchases across the country is quite astonishing," said Soper, speaking Tuesday at a BMO conference on Canada’s housing market. "Affordability in places like Vancouver has improved for the first time in a very long time."

BMO senior economist Sal Guatieri said the average mortgage payment has fallen by one-third, or $600 a month, from its peak, while average resale home prices have fallen 14 per cent from their highs.

Guatieri said he expects resale prices to fall "moderately further" this year for a cumulative decline in prices of about 20 per cent.

But Peter Norman, a consultant with independent real-estate adviser Altus Group, said the dramatic drops in home prices seen in places like Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary are the exception rather than the norm.

"This is not a housing adjustment period in Canada," he said in an interview.