Edmonton Real Estate Blog

In case you missed it, theglobeandmail.com published an interesting report last 11 November written by Michael Babad entitled “Why we shouldn’t fear a crash in Canada’s three hottest housing markets”.

Here’s the breakdown of it.

In the housing and demographics side, senior economist Robert Kavcic found in his research that while the residential construction starts are at record levels, still grew 4% year over year.

Toronto is experiencing a 4 1/2 –year low in constructions starts due to the cooling down of population growth.

Mr. Kavcic further said that there is no meltdown in the horizon since the constructions happening in Toronto were mostly started in 2012 and 2013, which means there is no real overbuilding.

As what we have discussed in our previous posts, housing starts have declined in October reaching a low of 183,600, surpassing projections by economists.

“The focus in Canada is on Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, where prices are running hot. Most recently, the Bank of Canada has said other markets are showing signs of a soft landing.” the report said.

Gluskin Sheff + Associates chief economist David Rosenberg suggests that the downside surprise in data is a welcoming point for policy makers, where homebuilding is staying consistent with the Canadian household formation trend.

This trend is well above the requirement to match the growth in population as noted by Brian DePratto, Toronto-Dominion Bank economist.

He further adds that “A gradual rise in interest rates, along with the moderate level of overbuilding will help moderate housing activity.”

All this point to a rosy real estate industry in Edmonton. The music still continue to play and so is the need to dance to it. Buy now. Check out the latest available homes for sale in Edmonton and nearby areas on our high-speed Edmonton MLS.

Read complete report here.

You read it right, everything is looking good for the housing market in the city of Edmonton. Just last October 30, The Wallstreet Journal Canada released an article entitled “Canada’s Housing Market Defies Doomsayers” written by Nirmal Menon, emphasizing that “Canada’s housing market keeps on going, defying long-standing predictions of a slowdown.”

Like what we have written on our Halloween article “Edmonton Housing Market, Surviving Zombiepocalypse”, The Wallstreet Journal Canada reports that forecasts for starts and prices have been raised again by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

A point to ponder in the report is the reason why Canada’s housing marketing did not experience a bust similar to its southern neighbor, the U.S. Unlike its neighbor, Canada put in place practices that are more conservative.

“The government has tightened mortgage insurance rules four times between 2008 and 2012 to cool the market and rein in household debt that Canadians have built up by using cheap borrowing costs to buy homes.” the report said.

BMO Capital Markets chief economist Douglas Porter have played down the gloom and doom scenarios as some observers have been worried that a housing bubble might burst, this is on the back of the International Monetary Fund’s recent inclusion of Canada as one of the countries with over-valued home prices.

Mr. Porter is positive that under most scenarios, like if the global economy stumbles or Bank of Canada makes big rate hikes, the Canadian housing market would keep plowing ahead.

This solidifies our earlier announcements at Team Leading Edge that it is the right time to buy a real estate property in Edmonton. Check all the latest homes for sale in our Edmonton MLS.

Read complete report here.