Press Release Summary: This is a brief look at how sub-prime mortgages have effected the Canadian housing market
Press Release Body: With all the trouble in the U.S. housing market many thought it would only be a matter of time before the Canadian market followed suite. In the past Canadian markets have closely mirrored the U.S., but those days may be over, at least in the housing sector.
The largest factor in the U.S. market decline is the sale of sub-prime mortgage products. Canadian banks have resisted selling these types of mortgages and so one can conclude that this will not have an effect in the Canadian marketplace. As a matter of fact prices continue to rise here on the West Coast with new homes still being in high demand. As an example prices in the central Vancouver Island area rose 13% in 2007. The population continues to grow as well with communities like Comox, Parksville, Kellowna and Penticton leading the way.
According to The Canadian Real Estate Association unit sales increased by 7.6% nation wide over 2006 and new listings, average price and dollar volume all reached their highest annual levels ever in 2007.
Our economy is no longer dependant on natural resources as it once was giving us some independence from the U.S. economy not previously enjoyed.
With interest rates remaining affordable to most prospective home owners and new business opportunities opening up all the time and with the Olympic Games in the near future I can only imagine this upward trend in prices will continue for the next several years. The unknown factor in all of this is consumer confidence, its really up to the home buyers to decide where the market will go.
2022
