Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.   

Girouard is a well-known broker who previously appeared on a Quebec reality show that follows top real-estate agents in the province. She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000. 

Canada

Canada’s housing market softened in July 2024, with the national average home price and benchmark price slightly declining compared to the previous month and year. In July 2024, the national benchmark home price, which measures the price of a “typical” home, was $724,800, a a 0.8% monthly decrease and down 4.3% year-over-year. The average home price in Canada stood at $667,317, reflecting a 4.1% decline from the previous month and a 0.2% decrease from the previous year.

The national unemployment rate ticked higher again in August as the labour market continues to cool, prompting some economists to wonder if the Bank of Canada should be cutting interest rates faster.

Statistics Canada said Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 6.6 per cent, up from 6.4 per cent the month before, amid a gain of 22,000 net jobs. The increase reflected gains in part-time work but declines in full-time jobs.

Greater Toronto Area (GTA) home sales were down on a year-over-year basis in August 2024. New listings were up slightly over the same period. While the region’s housing market remained well-supplied in August, average home prices only edged slightly lower compared to August 2023.

“The Bank of Canada’s rate cut announced on September 4 will lead to a further improvement in affordability, especially for those using variable rate mortgages. First-time buyers are especially sensitive to changes in borrowing costs. As mortgage rates continue to trend lower this year and next, we should experience an uptick in first-time buying activity, including in the condo market,” said Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) President Jennifer Pearce.

When Shanice Sharpe moved into a one-bedroom apartment at 22 John St., in the working-class neighbourhood of Weston in the Greater Toronto Area, her rent seemed reasonable.

But since 2022, it has shot up nearly 10 per cent each year and she’s currently spending most of her monthly income on housing. “I have three jobs just to pay for my life,” she said.

The majority of her fellow tenants have faced similar hikes from the building’s Canadian owner, Dream Unlimited, which has $25 billion in assets.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Greater Toronto-area home sales rose in August on a month-to-month basis, data showed on Thursday, rebounding from a drop in July.

Seasonally adjusted sales increased 0.6% in August following a drop of 0.8% in July, according to Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) data.

The August rise was only the third monthly increase in the last eight months, TRREB data showed.

Average prices for homes were down 0.8% last month to C$1.12 million ($815,178), ending a six-month rising streak, while new listings fell 1.6%, TRREB said in a release.

As classes commence this week and students settle into their new homes, both on- and off-campus, a new Desjardins report warns of a shortage of affordable student housing and its implications for the housing market writ large.

“Insufficient student accommodations should worry all Canadians,” wrote Desjardins economists Kari Norman and Randall Bartlett. As the demand for higher education in Canada continues to surge, the availability of student housing has not kept pace, the authors said.

Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) memberships declined by 1,363 year-over-year this July to 73,315, marking the first month since 2016, at least, to see a yearly decrease.

Scott Ingram, a TRREB member and chartered accountant, called attention to this unusual drop in membership via a Tweet shared last week. When contacted for comment, TRREB told STOREYS that it “does not share membership trends with the public.” But Ingram believes there are two likely factors behind the decline.

Canada’s planned builder boom is turning into a bust. The Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA) released the results of its Q2 2024 survey. They found that home builder sentiment remained negative for an 8th consecutive quarter. As a result of weak demand, most plan to significantly reduce the numbers of homes they build—by half on average. 

Canadian Home Builder Sentiment Has Been Negative For 2 Years

Canadian home builder sentiment took a sharp turn in the second quarter. The CHBA’s quarterly survey shows Q2 2024 was the 8th quarter that sentiment remained in negative territory. At the national level, sentiment hasn’t quite returned to the all-time low reached at the end of 2022. However, builders remain less-than-optimistic about the prospects of building.