The number of home sales in the United States peaked in 2021 at almost ************* after steadily rising since 2018. Nevertheless, the market contracted in the following year, with transaction volumes falling to ***********. Home sales remained muted in 2024, with a mild increase expected in 2025 and 2026. A major factor driving this trend is the unprecedented increase in mortgage interest rates due to high inflation. How have U.S. home prices developed over time? The average sales price of new homes has also been rising since 2011. Buyer confidence seems to have recovered after the property crash, which has increased demand for homes and also the prices sellers are demanding for homes. At the same time, the affordability of U.S. homes has decreased. Both the number of existing and newly built homes sold has declined since the housing market boom during the coronavirus pandemic. Challenges in housing supply The number of housing units in the U.S. rose steadily between 1975 and 2005 but has remained fairly stable since then. Construction increased notably in the 1990s and early 2000s, with the number of construction starts steadily rising, before plummeting amid the infamous housing market crash. Housing starts slowly started to pick up in 2011, mirroring the economic recovery. In 2022, the supply of newly built homes plummeted again, as supply chain challenges following the COVID-19 pandemic and tariffs on essential construction materials such as steel and lumber led to prices soaring.

The average sales price of new homes in the United States experienced a slight decrease in 2024, dropping to 512,2000 U.S. dollars from the peak of 521,500 U.S. dollars in 2022. This decline came after years of substantial price increases, with the average price surpassing 400,000 U.S. dollars for the first time in 2021. The recent cooling in the housing market reflects broader economic trends and changing consumer sentiment towards homeownership. Factors influencing home prices and affordability The rapid rise in home prices over the past few years has been driven by several factors, including historically low mortgage rates and increased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the market has since slowed down, with the number of home sales declining by over two million between 2021 and 2023. This decline can be attributed to rising mortgage rates and decreased affordability. The Housing Affordability Index hit a record low of 98.1 in 2023, indicating that the median-income family could no longer afford a median-priced home. Future outlook for the housing market Despite the recent cooling, experts forecast a potential recovery in the coming years. The Freddie Mac House Price Index showed a growth of 6.5 percent in 2023, which is still above the long-term average of 4.4 percent since 1990. However, homebuyer sentiment remains low across all age groups, with people aged 45 to 64 expressing the most pessimistic outlook. The median sales price of existing homes is expected to increase slightly until 2025, suggesting that affordability challenges may persist in the near future.

An interactive chart showcasing year-to-date detached house, condo townhouse, and condo apartment sales in the Metro Toronto area for the last ten years.

An interactive chart showcasing completed detached house sales and active listings in the Metro Toronto area for the last three years, with a focus on the most recent month's data.

Interactive chart displaying benchmark and median prices for detached houses in the Greater Toronto Area, with data spanning 18 months and 10 years.

The UK has an ageing population – for the Residential Nursing Care industry, this is an opportunity for growth with demand for more beds expanding. Homes have upped their average weekly fees, contributing to revenue. High inflation over the two years through 2023-24 has raised fees further. However, state involvement has limited growth, which has kept care fees artificially low for many nursing home residents. Residential nursing care revenue is anticipated to remain stable at £9.3 billion over the five years through 2024-25, including revenue growth of 3% in 2024-25. Weak government funding and wage cost pressures caused by the rising National Living Wage (which will increase to £12.21 in April 2025) have constrained profitability. Labour supply shortages caused by high turnover rates have been of particular concern. According to Skills For Care, the job vacancy rate in 2023-24 in the adult care sector was 8.3%, way above the average rate in the UK economy. That being said, the vacancy rate is declining thanks mainly to a government-driven recruitment drive to attract overseas workers, which has been helped by reducing visa requirements. Rising real household disposable income had supported more self-funded residents, aiding residential nursing care. However, data from the ONS revealed the percentage of self-funded residents fell from 36.7% in 2019-20 to 34.9% over the year through February 2022. In the year through February 2023, this has risen again to 37% of the 372,035 care home residents. Families are still struggling with the rising cost of living, reducing the number of people able to afford private care home costs, which has somewhat constrained revenue growth. Over the five years through 2029-30, residential and nursing care revenue is estimated to expand at a compound annual rate of 4.1% to £11.4 billion. Robust demand from an ageing population will support industry growth. However, plans for adult social care reforms are to be released in two stages (the first in 2026 and the second in 2028), which has caused greater uncertainty for the sector's future. Staff shortage concerns will continue to plague nursing care.

The number of people switching from home to inpatient care has risen again following the containment of the coronavirus. The additional expenditure for hygiene concepts and staff and the simultaneous reduction in income, for example due to unoccupied care home places, put pressure on the profit margin of care homes. In recent years, care homes have also had to deal with a shortage of skilled workers and a reform of the healthcare system with various new regulations. Between 2020 and 2025, industry turnover fell by an average of 0.2% per year. The industry was able to compensate for the slump in turnover during the pandemic years.Care homes are under economic pressure. In addition to the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic, high energy costs and inflation as well as rising wages have been additional cost drivers in recent years. In addition, social welfare organisations are only settling uncovered care home costs after long processing times. The cost increases, which cannot be fully refinanced, are leading to the closure of numerous care homes. Cost pressure and the worsening staff shortage are also expected to lead to occupancy freezes and capacity cuts in the current year and result in further closures. For 2025, an increase in turnover of 1.9% compared to the previous year and total turnover of 35.1 billion euros is therefore expected.Due to demographic change and the increasing life expectancy of the population, the care market is characterised by stable growth. The rise in the number of households with people over the age of 65 and the increasing number of people in need of care in Germany are ensuring a constant demand for care places and will favour a positive sales trend in the sector. This is another reason why sales are expected to grow by an average of 2.4% per year until 2030. Total turnover is expected to amount to 39.5 billion euros in 2030. However, the rising number of people in need of care will be offset by an insufficient number of qualified nursing staff, which could widen the care gap. There is already a shortage of skilled workers in the industry today, which could worsen in the coming years.

An interactive chart showcasing completed Condo Apartment sales and active listings in the Metro Toronto area for the last three years, with a focus on the most recent month's data.

An interactive chart showcasing completed Detached House and Condo Apartment pre-sales and new construction sales in the Metro Toronto area for the last three years, with a focus on the most recent month's data.

Interactive chart displaying benchmark and median prices for Condo Apartments in the Greater Toronto Area, with data spanning 18 months and 10 years.

Interactive chart displaying benchmark and median prices for Condo Townhouses in the Greater Toronto Area, with data spanning 18 months and 10 years.

Interactive forecast of benchmark prices for detached houses, townhouses, and condo apartments in Metro Toronto over the next two years.

This statistic shows the effects that increasing mortgage rates would have on home buying in the United States in 2018. During the survey, ** percent of respondents said they would slow down their search and wait for the rates to come back again.

An interactive chart showcasing completed Condo Townhouse sales and active listings in the Metro Toronto area for the last three years, with a focus on the most recent month's data.

Interactive dataset showing the Months of Inventory for detached houses, condo townhouses, and condo apartments in Metro Toronto from 2016 to today, with classifications of seller's, balanced, or buyer's market.

Graph and download economic data for Homeownership Rate in the United States (RHORUSQ156N) from Q1 1965 to Q2 2025 about homeownership, housing, rate, and USA.

Between 2022 and 2025, the construction price of residential and non-residential buildings in Canada has grown at the same pace. The price of both types of buildings was roughly ***** percent higher in the last quarter of 2025 than in 2024, which is the year when the index base was set at 100. Nevertheless, that only considers the cost of buildings in 15 selected metropolitan areas in Canada. Toronto was by far the metropolitan region with the highest construction costs in Canada.

What determines construction costs? The growth rate of the construction price of different types of buildings tends to follow similar trends to some extent. For example, price growth rates in Canada for most types of buildings were more moderate in 2024 than in previous years. However, those figures show a lot of disparity, with the cost of building a high rise apartment building growing much faster than that of other types of buildings. This might be because the construction costs depend on elements such as the location, materials, and complexity of the building, which tend to be quite different for each type of building.

Lumber building materials in Canada In 2024, Canada was the world’s second-largest exporter of wood building materials such as veneer sheets, parquet flooring, particleboard, laminated wood, and builders’ joinery and carpentry. Forestry, logging, and processing wood into ready-to-use materials are important industries in the Canadian economy. High price growth rates of building materials impact negatively the construction industry as their activities become more expensive. However, the forestry and logging industry benefited from the cost of lumber rising in 2020 and 2021. In the past years, the price of lumber, however, has fallen again.