According to a consumer pulse report from Dye & Durham Limited, home-buying intentions are slowly rising among consumers.
Canadians eyeing real estate rebound
The survey of 1,001 Canadians found that one in ten Canadians expect to sell their home and purchase a new one in the next year — double the number that said they did so in the past 12 months.
Nearly twice as many respondents said they plan to buy their first home in the next year (8.0 per cent versus 4.0 per cent in the past 12 months) or buy an investment property or secondary property (8.0 per cent vs 5.0 per cent) compared to those that did so in the past year.
However, the effects of elevated prices and higher interest rates linger; nearly a quarter of Canadians said they’d continue to wait until purchase prices or interest rates drop.
Concerns about the strength of the Canadian economy continue to weigh on many, with 54 per cent of respondents anticipating the country will slip into a recession in the coming year — and 33 per cent believing Canada is already in a recession.
Interest rate impacting Canadians’ financial wellbeing
Canadians’ economic concerns are impacting various sectors, not just real estate. The report reveals that only 25 per cent of Canadians believe they are in a better place financially than they were at this time last year. Significantly more, 39 per cent, say they are in a worse place financially than they were one year ago.
“It’s clear that many Canadians have been feeling pinched by this high-interest rate environment and have seen their purchasing power throttled over the past year,” says Martha Vallance, chief operating officer, Dye & Durham. “This has had a downstream effect on everything from housing and retail to legal services over the past 12 months. However, as rates begin to hold — and eventually decline –— we expect to see a significant upswing in areas like real estate transactions, business originations and others that should help legal firms bounce back from a slower-than-normal year.”