Article content

Royal Bank of Canada warned on Thursday that policymakers are more likely to introduce measures to cool the Toronto housing market after home sales hit a record high in 2016.

“The likelihood of policy intervention to address housing risks in Toronto is increasing,” economists at Canada’s biggest bank said in its January Canadian Housing Health Check.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canada's biggest bank warns of possible cooling measures coming to Toronto housing market Back to video

RBC did not specify whether further moves would be introduced by the federal government, the provincial government in Ontario or Canada’s financial regulator.

Canada’s finance ministry last year implemented stricter rules for mortgage providers while the provincial government in British Columbia slapped a 15 percent tax on foreign buyers to help bring prices down in the sky-high Vancouver market and make prices more affordable for ordinary people.

Separately, Canada’s federal housing agency on Thursday said that, for the second quarter in a row, overvaluation and price acceleration were causing stresses in the housing market.