Canadians are “seriously concerned” about the state of the economy heading into 2024, a recent report from Dye & Durham found.
Dye & Durham’s latest quarterly Canadian Pulse report revealed that fewer than one quarter of Canadians feel better off financially this year compared with last year, while nearly half say they’re faring worse.
Due to persistent inflation across the nation, Canadians are spending more this year on critical categories of consumption such as groceries, gas, insurance, and rent, the report found.
This downward sentiment is reflected in an overall pessimism about the country’s economy at large, with 59% of Canadians anticipating a recession in 2024—a figure that is up notably from the prior quarter.
Meanwhile, nearly one-third of Canadians are convinced we are already in a recession.
And yet despite economic recession, a majority of Canadians still expect housing prices to rise in 2024, the survey found, fuelled by factors such as sustained demand for homeownership and the highest per capita immigration rate in the world.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom, believes Martha Vallance, who serves as chief operating officer for Dye & Durham.
“Inflation is cooling and interest rates are stabilizing,” she posits, “and with that Canadians are telling us that they have renewed optimism in the outlook for their housing plans.”
According to Valance, “It appears that many prospective homebuyers are growing tired of trying to time the market, and pent-up demand could lead to a long-awaited volume rebound . . . in 2024.”
The full version of this article appears on Fintech.ca.
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