F inding accommodation for a relocation can be diffi- cult under normal circumstances. Add costly housing markets, new mortgage rules, and rental regulation changes to the mix, and it’s fair to say that the Canadian real estate market is anything but normal. There are several factors adding to the challenges facing trans- ferees moving in or out of the Canadian market. Topping the list are rising property and rental costs in some of the country’s more popular destinations. “The number one challenge for Canadian housing in recent years has been the growing disparity in home values in the various major cities in the country,” explains Phil Soper, president and CEO of Brookfield Real Estate Services and Royal LePage. Soper notes that housing prices in Vancouver are 50 per cent higher than in Toronto and rising at 25 per cent a year – aston- ishing figures by anyone’s standards. “The fastest appreciating real estate in the country was already the most expensive, and that problem just got worse,” he says. “That’s made it really challen- ging for employers if their corporate relocation policy doesn’t have some kind of a market-based home equity assistance portion to it, and most do not in this day and age.” While new regulations in B.C. and Ontario have triggered market corrections that have stalled home price inflation and will bring temporary relief to home buyers, Soper isn’t optimistic about the outcome. “Don’t expect it to last,” he says. REAL ESTATE WHERE TO STAY? Making sense of Canada’s turbulent real estate market and the effect rising prices are having on relocation By Matthew Bradford 28 PERSPECTIVES Spring 2018