{"id":142318,"date":"2026-07-24T12:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T12:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/142318\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T12:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T12:59:07","slug":"tariffs-dampen-cmhc-forecast-torontos-population-shrinks-and-the-home-of-the-week-canadian-real-estate-news-for-the-week-of-july-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/142318\/","title":{"rendered":"Tariffs dampen CMHC forecast, Toronto\u2019s population shrinks and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for the week of July 24"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The home of the week combines light, art and landscape in Forest Hill.Supplied<\/p>\n

This week: New tariff turmoil hits home construction forecast and Toronto\u2019s shrinking population signals a housing reckoning. Plus, some B.C. developers are suing pre-sale buyers who back out, and one property worth a look.<\/p>\n

Take our business and investing news quiz<\/a><\/p>\n

Trade woesCMHC predicts drop in home starts as new tariffs stoke turmoil<\/p>\n

Fewer houses will be built in the next two years despite Ottawa\u2019s assurances it\u2019s \u201cturbocharging\u201d construction, and U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s latest tariffs are adding even more doubt. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. is now forecasting<\/a> that annual housing starts will fall 7 per cent this year to 241,400 units, 7.5 per cent in 2027 and a further 5 per cent to just 211,900 in 2028. <\/p>\n

The decline contradicts what Prime Minister Mark Carney outlined in his recent budget, as Rachelle Younglai reports, but trade turmoil isn\u2019t the only driving factor. Buyer hesitation, high construction and materials costs, slowing population growth and a surplus of unsold condos are all contributing, too. \u201cThere is a very heightened level of uncertainty,\u201d Kevin Hughes, CMHC\u2019s deputy chief economist, told Rachelle. \u201cThere is uncertainty for businesses but also from households.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the new tariffs will also hit the bedrooms of homeowners on both sides of the border<\/a>, as Jason Kirby and Sophia Bertuzzi report, targeting furniture, bedding and lighting industries \u2013 among other industries \u2013 many of which are already reeling from previous U.S. tariffs. Durham Furniture Inc. president Luke Simpson said the solid wood bedroom furnisher is already fielding calls from anxious U.S. customers. \u201cWe assume it\u2019s a negotiating tactic but no one has any idea what is going to happen,\u201d he told Jason and Sophia. \u201cThe uncertainty of it means how do you possibly add new customers?\u201d<\/p>\n

Breach of contractPresale buyers are backing out in B.C. \u2013 and developers are suingOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

B.C. developers are suing buyers who don’t close on their sales, including a suit involving the Lynn project by Mosaic Homes in North Vancouver, rendered here.Mosaic Homes<\/p>\n

Imagine this: You bought a presale home for $715,000 when prices were higher with a $68,000 deposit, but it\u2019s almost done and its value has plummeted closer to $585,000. You\u2019re caught between a rock (completing the purchase and cementing the six-figure loss) and a hard place (backing out and losing your deposit). Then the developer makes it even harder: they\u2019re suing you for an additional $70,000.<\/p>\n

This is just one of many sales-gone-wrong playing out in B.C. courts as Metro Vancouver developers have begun to file dozens of lawsuits against buyers who don\u2019t close. Howard Chai combed through court filings to find that major developers like Zentarra, Marcon, Dawson + Sawyer, Mosaic Homes and Westbank are suing individual buyers for trying to cut their losses and breaching contracts on projects from Vancouver to Port Moody. Mosaic said they have made efforts to work with buyers to support their closings, and all of the other developers declined to comment or did not respond.<\/p>\n

As Howard reports, it\u2019s a sign that larger market forces are at play. This wasn\u2019t happening much when the market was strong, but times are different. \u201cDevelopers are not messing around anymore,\u201d Vancouver-based realtor Mike Stewart told Howard. \u201cThey are going after people because their costs are so high and their losses are so high. So they need to sue people.\u201d Read Howard\u2019s full story and why buyers might not have a legal leg to stand on.<\/a><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s lowest fixed and variable mortgage rates in Canada<\/p>\n

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term\/type and category (insured vs. uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, July 23<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DecoderToronto\u2019s population whiplash signals an unaffordability reckoning<\/p>\n

For the first time outside of the pandemic, Toronto\u2019s population has shrank<\/a> as the rubber hit the road and sent many residents in search of cheaper housing elsewhere. In the 12 months before July 1, 2025, 1,000 more people left Toronto than moved there, and unaffordability was a driving factor. As Jason Kirby reports, just a year after topping a fastest-growing city ranking<\/a> in Canada and the U.S., the Six has plunged near the bottom of the list by researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University.<\/p>\n

Jason has written a lot about the historic reversal of Canada\u2019s population growth and its implications for the housing market, but this data still caught him by surprise. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to talk about Greater Toronto\u2019s wild swing in population growth on its own, it\u2019s another to see it in the broader North American context,\u201d he told me. \u201cTo realize Toronto swung from adding the most people among 400-plus Canadian or U.S. metros to close to last place in the span of one year is stunning.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while 1,000 people in a year may seem like a small net loss, the ripple effects are huge. \u201cIt\u2019s already creating a reckoning,\u201d Jason told me. \u201cRental vacancies are soaring. Rental rates are plunging. House prices have already experienced a significant correction. Not all of that is population, but a large part of it is.\u201d Read Jason\u2019s deep-dive into the data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Design corner7 tricks to make your home as relaxing as a hotelOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Hotel rooms, like this one at the Fogo Island Inn, can offer a lesson in how to make our homes more relaxing.ALEX FRADKIN\/Supplied<\/p>\n

Do you ever walk into a beautiful hotel room and wonder why you never feel quite as at-peace at home? It\u2019s no fluke. Hotels are carefully designed to help you relax, down to the smallest detail \u2013 and research backs it up. <\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t need to live at the Plaza like Eloise to make your space a relaxation destination. From prioritizing warm lighting to using eye-catching accents, here are seven tricks of hotel design<\/a> you can take home with you after checkout. <\/p>\n

Home of the WeekA Forest Hill home that connects with the soulOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A three-storey atrium with clerestory windows floods the home with natural night and keeps the walls clear for art.Supplied<\/p>\n

36 Millbank Ave., Toronto \u2013 Full gallery here<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to look back at work you did early in your career and cringe at how you\u2019d do it differently. That\u2019s not the case for award-winning architect Siamak Hariri and this Forest Hill home that was one of his first residential projects in the late 1990s when Hariri Pontarini Architects was just getting started.<\/p>\n

The house was an experiment of sorts for Hariri\u2019s commitment to architecture that resonates with the human soul, one that the owner Jerry Shear, a veteran real estate developer, and his wife Eleanor agreed with. Built around a three-story atrium with clerestory windows, natural light flows in from the centre of the home, allowing the walls to remain adorned with the owners\u2019 extensive art collection. The exterior of glass, teak, mahogany, and rough and smooth-cut stone uses materials that became his signature across projects like museums, university buildings and offices, but the result is anything but corporate. <\/p>\n

With 4,287 square feet of living space, the home manages to be both contemporary and warm. Cherry wood cabinets and limestone floors and counters in the kitchen create a cozy but clean feeling. At the rear of the home, lift-and-slide doors open the back wall of the family room to the back garden. And despite all the glass, copper detailing on the exterior makes sure it\u2019s built to last through Toronto\u2019s extreme conditions. \u201cI\u2019m very happy with this after 30 years,\u201d Hariri said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I would do it any differently now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n What do you think is the asking price for the property?\n <\/p>\n

a. $5,655,000<\/p>\n

b. $5,995,000<\/p>\n

c. $6,255,000<\/p>\n

d. $6,695,000<\/p>\n

\n d. The asking price is $6,695,000.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The home of the week combines light, art and landscape in Forest Hill.Supplied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3128,902,903,904,1637,484,16124,48,137,906],"class_list":["post-142318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ac-community","tag-aud-growth","tag-aud-headline","tag-aud-url","tag-newnewsletter","tag-noastack","tag-realestate-roundup","tag-toronto","tag-yesapplenews","tag-yessnap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}