![\"bidding](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/bidding-wars-2021-housing-market.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: James Bombales<\/em><\/p>\nHome prices will continue rising rapidly across broad swaths of Canada in 2021 as low housing supply forces buyers into fierce bidding wars.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the message RBC Senior Economist Robert Hogue is sharing in the bank\u2019s 2021 housing market outlook, published today.<\/p>\n
Titled \u201cCanada\u2019s housing market headed for another record year in 2021,\u201d the report identifies robust pre-pandemic housing demand that was carried forward to 2020\u2019s second half as the primary reason why supply is so diminished across many provinces and major regional markets.<\/p>\n\n
Hogue wrote that active home listings in late 2020 were significantly lower than the 10-year average in Ontario, Quebec, most of Atlantic Canada and BC.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s despite a surge in downtown condo listings since spring in Canada\u2019s largest cities. With so few options to choose from (outside downtown condos), buyers will continue to compete fiercely,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Stiff buyer competition means prices will continue their swift upward march in these provinces, with Hogue predicting a 9.6 percent rise in Ontario for 2021. Quebec is forecast to record a nine percent jump, while BC is pegged for an 8.6 percent increase in property values.<\/p>\n
Rather than fixating on the large urban markets in these provinces, the economist was quick to point out that rising prices isn\u2019t just a \u201cbig-market story.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pandemic has heated up prices in smaller markets too. In fact, we could see stronger gains in smaller markets than in core urban areas because downtown condo prices are likely to stay flat through much of 2021,\u201d Hogue wrote.<\/p>\n