Launch of ‘Royal LePage Canadian Real Estate Market Composite’ Brings Enhanced Research and Analytics to Company’s Quarterly House Price Survey
Combines valuable market insights from Royal LePage real estate advisors with rich data and analytics from Brookfield RPS
TORONTO, October 9, 2015 – Royal LePage today announced major enhancements to its Royal LePage House Price Survey[1] program. Beginning this quarter, the company is expanding the program to include the Royal LePage Canadian Real Estate Market Composite, produced quarterly through the use of a proprietary, custom-built solution that analyzes a housing database containing millions of real estate transactions.
Building on an over 40-year history of producing Canada’s most comprehensive real estate market research, Royal LePage is introducing important changes to its House Price Survey program. Firstly, the number of regions used to produce the widely followed national report was significantly increased, from twenty-two to a composite comprising over fifty major markets. Secondly, the survey will now report median[2] prices, where previously average prices were reported, as median or market-middle prices provide a more meaningful metric for consumers. Also new this quarter, Royal LePage will be reporting both national and market-specific aggregate prices for all surveyed markets, as well as a new consolidated study of the country’s three largest metropolitan areas – Greater Vancouver, the Greater Toronto Area and the Greater Montreal Area.
The improvements are made possible through Royal LePage’s collaboration with its sister company, Brookfield Real Property Solutions Inc. (Brookfield RPS), a leader in residential real estate data and analytics in Canada. Brookfield RPS consolidates and maintains a database containing information about millions of unique residential properties from Royal LePage data and data provided by other Brookfield companies. The custom-built solution will utilize this rich data in combination with Brookfield RPS’s advanced analytics. House prices presented in the report will continue to be paired with valuable market insights and commentary from Royal LePage real estate advisors. These changes combined will lead to the most comprehensive view yet of Canada’s national residential real estate sector and a deeper understanding of local market dynamics across the country.
“Home ownership is not only central to family life in our country, but also represents the foundational financial investment for a majority of Canadians. The new enhancements to our research program will render the Royal LePage House Price Survey more relevant, easy-to-use and intuitive for real estate professionals and their customers,” said Phil Soper, president and CEO, Royal LePage. “We admire the work Brookfield RPS has done with Canada’s leading financial institutions and are pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with their team to give homeowners and industry professionals the insights they need to better understand housing market trends and how they may affect the housing decisions they make.”
“Working with real estate industry leader and sister company, Royal LePage, has been particularly gratifying for us,” said Dave Lacey, president and CEO, Brookfield RPS. “We have combined the strengths of both organizations, powerful data and analytics and valuable market insights, to further enhance the iconic Royal LePage House Price Survey.”
The new Royal LePage House Price Survey will include the following enhancements and changes:
- An expanded quarterly report of house prices in major markets across Canada including the new Royal LePage Canadian Real Estate Market Composite based on more than50markets nationwide
- The study will now report aggregate data for the greater metropolitan areas of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver
- House price estimates will be based on the median price of houses sold within the quarter for each style and area
- An aggregate house price will be reported for each area, based on a weighted average of the three property style prices for the area. The weights are based on the proportion of each property style that exists in each of the areas
- The geographic area of each market will be based upon clearly defined Statistics Canada boundaries
- Royal LePage will be providing market information in an expanded press release format, and the subsequent comprehensive report will be discontinued
- Properties will be classified into one of three property types[3]: Two-storeys, Bungalows and Condominiums:
- Two-storeys are two-storey houses including properties labelled as bi-level, two-storey, two-storey split and semi-detached homes
- Bungalows are single-storey houses and are on majority not attached to another house. Property styles that fit into this category include properties labelled as bungalow, back split, hillside bungalow and hillside split
- Condominiums are apartments and townhouses in multi-unit buildings in which units of property are owned by individuals. Common parts of the property (such as the grounds and building structure) are owned jointly by the owners
- To reduce the variability from quarter to quarter, outlier transactions will be removed from the analysis. This includes houses that are unique and therefore transact at above typical house prices for that area, houses that are sold well below fair market value or non-arm’s length transactions. The median price of houses sold within the quarter is then calculated for each style within each area
- Finally, for the Royal LePage Market Survey Forecast, prepared semi-annually, Royal LePage will be forecasting median prices, rather than average prices. The next Market Survey Forecast is scheduled to be released in January 2016
The aggregated regions and markets comprising the report are provided below:
| National and Metropolitan Area Aggregates | Province |
| National | ALL |
| Greater Montreal Area | QC |
| Greater Toronto Area | ON |
| Greater Vancouver | BC |
| Royal LePage Canadian Real Estate Market Composite | Province |
| St. John’s | NL |
| Charlottetown | PE |
| Halifax | NS |
| Fredericton | NB |
| Moncton | NB |
| Saint John | NB |
| Gatineau | QC |
| Laval | QC |
| Montreal | QC |
| Montreal East | QC |
| Montreal West | QC |
| Montreal Northshore | QC |
| Montreal Southshore | QC |
| Quebec City | QC |
| Sherbrooke | QC |
| Trois Rivières | QC |
| Ajax | ON |
| Belleville/Trenton | ON |
| Brampton | ON |
| Hamilton | ON |
| Kingston | ON |
| Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge | ON |
| London | ON |
| Markham | ON |
| Milton | ON |
| Mississauga | ON |
| Niagara/St. Catharines | ON |
| Oakville | ON |
| Oshawa | ON |
| Ottawa | ON |
| Pickering | ON |
| Richmond Hill | ON |
| Scarborough | ON |
| Toronto | ON |
| Vaughan | ON |
| Whitby | ON |
| Windsor/Essex | ON |
| Winnipeg | MB |
| Regina | SK |
| Saskatoon | SK |
| Calgary | AB |
| Edmonton | AB |
| Red Deer | AB |
| Burnaby | BC |
| Coquitlam | BC |
| Kelowna | BC |
| Langley | BC |
| North Vancouver | BC |
| Richmond | BC |
| Surrey | BC |
| Vancouver | BC |
| Victoria | BC |
| West Vancouver | BC |
[1] The Royal LePage House Price Survey will now be powered by Brookfield RPS.
[2] Previously average prices were reported. Medians are a more accurate measure of the price of typical homes in a specific geographic area, as unique properties and outliers are removed.
[3] This represents a consolidation of the previously-reported seven property types.
About the Royal LePage House Price Survey
The Royal LePage House Price Survey provides information on the three most common types of housing in Canada, in over 50 of the nation’s largest real estate markets. Housing values in the House Price Survey are based on the Royal LePage Canadian Real Estate Market Composite, produced quarterly through the use of company data in addition to data and analytics from its sister company, Brookfield RPS, the trusted source for residential real estate intelligence and analytics in Canada. Commentary on housing and forecast values are provided by Royal LePage residential real estate experts, based on their opinions and market knowledge.
About Royal LePage
Serving Canadians since 1913, Royal LePage is the country’s leading provider of services to real estate brokerages, with a network of over 16,000 real estate professionals in more than 600 locations nationwide. Royal LePage is the only Canadian real estate company to have its own charitable foundation, the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, dedicated to supporting women’s and children’s shelters and educational programs aimed at ending domestic violence. Royal LePage is a Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc. company, a TSX-listed corporation trading under the symbol TSX:BRE. For more information visit: www.royallepage.ca.
About Brookfield RPS
Brookfield RPS is a leading provider of outsourced appraisal management, mortgage-related services and real estate business intelligence to financial institutions, real estate professionals and consumers in Canada. The company’s expertise in real estate valuation has established Brookfield RPS as the trusted source for residential real estate intelligence and analytics. Further information visit www.brookfieldrps.com.
Royal LePage and Brookfield RPS are affiliates of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with over $200 billion of assets under management. For more information visit: www.brookfield.com.
For further information, please contact:
Ray McIlroy
Kaiser Lachance Communications
647-680-8316
ray.mcilroy@kaiserlachance.com
