Thursday, September 25, 2008

Canada's Real Estate Bubble

Update

I discussed this at length here, and focused on the information I had gleaned up to now showing me that it is in some part the immigration numbers that is spiking up the construction boom throughout Canada.

Well, here are the predictions of two experts: Alan Thomorat, executive vice-president of the Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Home Builder's Association, and Regine Durand, market analyst for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's prairie region, agreed.
"We really feel that these factors, and the investment intentions across those industries for the future, are telling us that we need to keep our current pace of construction over the foreseeable period to maintain the demand for housing in the long term," Thomorat said.

"We've also seen that the number of potential home buyers is also increasing because Saskatchewan received more than 3,000 migrants during the first quarter of this year. So we're still looking at positive economic factors supporting a strong demand for new homes," Durand added.
Yes, even out in Saskatchewan, they are counting on those immigrants. This should be no surprise, after all, since the storyline of the infamous "Little Mosque on the Prairies" is based out there.

Some commentators are talking about a percentage of these Canadian mortgages being subprime. Other economists are indicating that Ontario, with the highest immigrant residency, is experiencing a downward economic trend. And the real estate agent I asked a variety of questions to already had foreclosures on his mind. I hope people start to connect the dots.