Skip to content
CMHC Home Canada Mortgage
and Housing Corporation
  • Sign In or Register
  • Français
  • MENU
MENU
× Français
  • Home
  • Professionals
    • Project funding and mortgage financing
      • Funding programs
        • Affordable Housing Fund
        • Affordable Housing Innovation Fund
        • Apartment Construction Loan Program
        • Canada Greener Affordable Housing
        • Community (social) housing
        • Federal Lands Initiative
        • Funding for Indigenous housing
        • Housing Supply Challenge
        • Innovation and research
        • National Housing Strategy Project Profiles
        • Rapid Housing Initiative
      • Mortgage Loan Insurance Products
        • Homeowner and Small Rental Mortgage Loan Insurance
          • CMHC Purchase
          • CMHC Improvement
          • CMHC Income Property
          • CMHC Refinance
          • CMHC Newcomers
          • CMHC Self-Employed
          • CMHC Portability
          • Eco Products for Lenders
        • Multi-Unit and Rental Housing
          • MLI Select
        • Default, claims and properties for sale
        • Underwriting centre
        • emili
        • NHA approved lenders
        • Calculating GDS / TDS
        • How to recognize and report mortgage fraud
        • Contact mortgage loan insurance
        • Insured Mortgage Purchase Program (IMPP)
      • Securitization
        • NHA Mortgage Backed Securities
        • Canada Mortgage Bonds
        • Canadian registered covered bonds
        • Blockchain in the housing industry
    • Housing markets, data and research
      • CMHC Reports Calendar
      • Housing markets
        • Housing market reports
        • Mortgage market and consumer reports
        • Fall 2024 Rental Market Report
      • Housing research
        • Consultations
          • Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act
            • Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act – Frequently asked questions
        • Housing research reports
        • Housing surveys
          • Mortgage consumer surveys
        • Research awards and scholarships
        • Understanding core housing need
        • Collaborative Housing Research Network
      • Housing data
        • Data tables
          • Household characteristics data
          • Housing market data
          • Mortgage and debt data
          • Rental market data
        • Housing market information portal
        • Residential Mortgage Industry Data Dashboard
        • CMHC licence agreement for the use of data
        • Housing Knowledge Centre
    • Industry innovation and leadership
      • Housing innovation
      • Our Partners
        • Partnerships
        • Federal, Provincial and Territorial Forum on Housing
      • Industry collaboration
        • Expert Community on Housing (ECoH)
      • Industry expertise
        • Affordable housing
        • Indigenous housing
        • Senior housing
        • Accessible and adaptable housing
        • Developing sustainable housing
        • Resources for mortgage professionals
        • CMHC newsletters
    • Events and speakers
      • Conferences
        • 2024 National Housing Conference
          • About
          • National Housing Conference - Agenda
          • Location
          • InnoZone
          • Details for participants
      • Speakers’ bureau
        • Kevin Hughes
  • Consumers
    • Buying a home
      • Homebuying calculators
        • Mortgage calculator
        • Affordability calculator
        • Debt service calculator
      • Buying guides
        • Homebuying step by step
        • CMHC's condominium buyer's guide
      • Mortgage loan insurance for consumers
        • What is CMHC mortgage loan insurance?
        • Do I qualify for mortgage loan insurance?
        • CMHC mortgage loan insurance costs
        • CMHC's Eco Products
          • CMHC’s Eco Improvement
          • CMHC Eco Plus
        • CMHC — home renovation financing options
        • FAQs — mortgage loan insurance
      • Incentives for homebuyers
      • Newcomers
      • The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive
    • Owning a home
      • Manage your mortgage
        • Mortgage fraud
        • Mortgage planning tips
        • Plan and manage your mortgage
        • Your credit report
        • Your home value
      • Aging in place
        • Housing options for Seniors
        • Housing and finance tips
        • Mortgage financing options for people 55+
        • Preventing fraud and financial abuse
    • Renting a home
      • I want to rent
        • Things to consider before renting
        • Types of housing for rent in Canada
        • Finding or advertising a rental property
        • Visiting the rental property
        • Lease and rental agreements
        • Signing the lease
        • Credit checks and bad credit
        • Rental payments and deposits
        • Roommates and pets
      • I am renting
        • Moving day
        • Landlord/Tenant responsibilities
        • Inspections
        • Maintenance and repairs
        • Complaints and evictions
        • Rent increases
        • When you can't pay rent
        • Renewing or terminating the lease
        • Moving out
      • One-Time Top-Up to the Canada Housing Benefit
      • COVID‑19: eviction bans and suspensions to support renters
  • About CMHC
    • CMHC’s goals, values and commitment to housing
    • Discover Life at CMHC
    • Management and governance
      • Speakers’ bureau
      • CMHC's Annual Public Meeting
      • CMHC’s board of directors and committees
      • Our management committee
      • Pension governance
        • Pension overview
        • Key roles and responsibilities
        • Annual reports
    • Corporate reporting
      • CMHC’s 2023 Annual Report
      • Program evaluation
      • Quarterly financial reports
      • Joint auditors special examination report to CMHC board 2018
      • CMHC’s Insured Mortgage Deferral
      • Corporate Plan Summary
      • Transparency
        • Access to information and privacy protection
        • Accessibility at CMHC
        • Accessibility feedback process
        • Briefing materials
        • Procurement
          • Vendor Diversity Program
        • Travel, hospitality and conference expenditures
    • Contact us
      • Contact mortgage loan insurance
      • Regional offices
      • Granville lsland
      • Indigenous and the North Housing Solutions
      • National office
      • Holiday service hours
  • Media Newsroom
  • National Housing Strategy
    • What is the strategy?
      • About the initiatives
      • How to apply
      • Help and resources
      • Priority areas for action
      • The National Housing Strategy Glossary of Common Terms
      • The Strategy in Action
    • Federal/Provincial/Territorial housing agreements
    • Other funding and financing opportunities
  • The Housing Observer
  • Canada’s Housing Podcast
  • Careers
  • Housing Knowledge Centre
 
  • Home
  • The Housing Observer
  • Updated housing market forecasts for Canada
  • Save
  • Share

2020 Housing Market Outlook — Special Edition

May 27, 2020

Save Icon

SAVE TO MY FOLDER

2020 Housing Market Outlook — Special Edition

SAVE
Close this Window   |   Manage my Folder
Save Icon

SAVE TO MY FOLDER

2020 Housing Market Outlook — Special Edition

Done Done!
Close this Window   |   Manage my Folder
Share icon

Share via

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
  • print
  • CopyLink

SuccessCopyLinkVersionLink copied

Share icon

Share via

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
  • print
  • CopyLink

SuccessCopyLinkVersionLink copied

share icon

Mail-blue Share via Email

Did You Know?

You can include an email signature?

Register | Sign In

×
Google Captcha Loader
share icon

Mail-blue Share via Email

Done Done!
Close this window

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced unprecedented uncertainty to economic and housing outlooks.

This special edition of the Housing Market Outlook presents an account of the preliminary economic impacts of the pandemic. It delivers the insights you need in times of great uncertainty. The forecast examines a wide range of plausible scenarios for housing indicators including:

  • housing starts
  • home sales
  • house prices

Housing Market will see a historic recession in 2020

The national and provincial economic outlook is subject to considerable risk given the:

  • rapid evolution of COVID-19 and duration of the pandemic
  • speed at which the global economy and financial markets are reacting
  • significant regional disparities in economic impact on housing markets

Canada will experience a historic recession in 2020 with significant declines in all housing indicators. Severe loss in household income and employment, and migration at a standstill contribute to unprecedented falls in construction activity and sales. The decline in housing activity is compounded in oil producing provinces as the energy sector is also experiencing historic lows.

Following declines in 2020, housing starts, sales and prices are expected to start recovering by mid-2021 as the pandemic recedes. Sales and prices are still likely to remain below their pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of 2022. The precise timing and duration of the recovery is highly uncertain, as the trajectory of the pandemic is not known.

Housing starts will decline

Residential construction activity slowed in many provinces, particularly in Quebec and Ontario driving a decline in national housing starts in 2020.

Housing starts will likely see a decline of 51% to 75% in the second half of 2020 from pre-COVID-19 levels before starting to recover in the first half of 2021 as economic conditions improve.

Housing starts are not expected to rebound to pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of the forecast horizon.

We’ll see a drop in existing home sales

Large declines in employment and household disposable income will cause large reductions in demand for existing homes in 2020. Listings will fall in response to weaker demand, placing significant downward pressure on existing home sales.

Sales are likely to register a decline in the range of 19% to 29% from their pre-COVID level before beginning a slow, gradual recovery in 2021. Our forecasts indicate that sales are not likely to recover to pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of the forecast horizon.

Housing prices will dip but recover in 2021

Our forecasts indicate that the average MLS® price will decline by 9% to 18% from its pre-COVID-19 level. Prices will begin to recover in the first half of 2021.

Provincial Housing Market Outlook declines

Housing indicators in Alberta and Saskatchewan are more heavily weighted to the downside than for other provinces. The negative impacts of lower oil prices put additional pressure on housing markets in these provinces.

Manitoba is likely to see smaller declines in housing indicators than the other Prairie Provinces, being affected less by oil prices. 

The outlook is broadly similar for Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. However, British Columbia is likely to see relatively smaller declines in housing starts in 2020 and 2021, while Ontario is likely to see larger declines in sales and prices in 2020.

Atlantic provinces will see relatively smaller declines in housing indicators when compared to other regions, as economic conditions will decline modestly compared to other regions. Due to the highly uncertain forecasting environment, we continue to closely monitor city-level housing markets and will provide additional analysis and guidance once sufficient data is available.

This is from the Housing Market Outlook series.

Download the full report

Related links

  • Housing Research newsletter
  • Reports calendar
  • News release

Was this page relevant to your needs?

Thank you for your feedback!

How Can We Help?

Suggest an Improvement

Report a Bug

How Can We Help?

Suggest an Improvement

Please share your suggestion.

Google Captcha Loader

How Can We Help?

Report a Bug

Please describe the problem.

Google Captcha Loader

Thank you. Your feedback has been submitted.

Discover related content using the tags below:

  • Housing Market
  • New Construction
  • Rental Housing
  • Research
  • Financing
Date Published: May 27, 2020

By Topic

  • Professionals
    • Project funding and mortgage financing
    • Housing markets data and research
    • Industry innovation and leadership
    • Events and speakers
  • Consumers
    • Home buying
    • Owning a home
    • Renting a home

About Us

  • CMHC's Story
  • Management and Governance
  • Our Partners
  • Corporate Reporting
  • Contact Us
  • Careers

More

  • CMHC Newsletters
  • CMHC Library
  • Housing Observer
  • Media Newsroom
  • CMHC and Accessible Housing
  • CMHC on Twitter
  • CMHC on LinkedIn
  • CMHC on Facebook
  • CMHC on Instagram
  • CMHC on YouTube
Privacy Policy    |    Terms and Conditions    |    Transparency    |    Accessibility Plan    |    Accessibility Feedback     Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) ©2025 
Canada
loader icon