Making Sense Of Canadian Real Estate Prices

Is there are direct relationship between Canadian real estate prices and money supply?

Real estate is subject to supply and demand like any other goods that are in demand by people. The increase in Canadian home prices when compared to the increase in the prices of crude oil and gold, showed a close relationship with the supply of money (both in Canada and the global supply of money).

The table below clearly show the gain in prices for real estate, crude oil and gold are directly related to the supply of money over a 20 years period.

Time Period	Jan/1990	Jan/2000	Inc. 1st 10 Yr	Jan/2010	Inc. 2nd 10 Yr	Inc. 20 Yr
Van SFH	$300K	$380K	27%	$950K	150%	216%
Van Thse	$190K	$220K	16%	$355K	61%	87%
Cdn $ Supply	$18 Billion	$33 Billion	83%	$55 Billion	67%	205%
Global $ Supply	US$17 Trillion	US$26 Trillion	52%	US$64 Trillion	146%	276%
Crude Oil/barrel	US$20	US$27	35%	US$68	152%	240%
Gold/oz	US$380	US$280	-27%	US$1100	293%	189%

Charts and data source: Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, DollarDaze.org and Kitco.

First 10 years - 1990 to 2000

The gain in home prices for single family homes and townhomes in Greater Vancouver were 27% and 16% respectively. The increase in crude oil price and the supply of money were 2 to 3 times more. During this period, there was a rapid gain in home prices from 1990 to 1994, followed by 5 years of price decline when capitals were moved back from Canada to China. Immigrants from Hongkong and Taiwan sold their homes and move money out of Canada after the hand over of Hongkong to China.

Second 10 years period - 2000 to 2010

The rise in Vancouver single family home prices, crude oil and gold followed closely with the global supply of money. Although the Canadian money supply was increasing at half the rate of global money supply, money from around the world and China could have been recycled and invested in Canadian real estates. The rapid expansion in liquidity around the world resulted in real estate prices all over the world, making double digit gains.

New money fueling home sales

The rapid rise in home prices, easy money policy from CMHC and low interest rates all helped to fuel the real estate boom in Canada. Canadian banks were very liberal in granting “home equity lines of credit” to home owners whose homes had doubled in values. Home owners and investors made very handsome gains in their real estate purchases over the past 10 years.

Will real estate prices collapse?

After a huge run-up in prices since 2001, many are wondering when they will be a correction in home prices. There were time periods when the market appeared to crack and roll over. But, this has not happened.

The above data showed that real estate prices seemed to co-relate with the global supply of money. The Chinese economy over the past 10 years had grown at just over 10% a year, and the momentum appears to be able to be sustained for the foreseeable future.

Money from China has a direct and significant impact on Canadian real estate prices. Canada is a favoured country for immigration by mainland Chinese families and immigrants from around the world. British Columbia will continue to enjoy positive inflow of money and new immigrants. Rich Chinese immigrants are making an impact on home prices in Vancouver Westside. Overall, real estate in BC will benefit from the demand for housing by new immigrants.

Read other Metro Vancouver real estate news here.

Vancouver housing market: Vancouver is different?

Vancouver property still good buy for post-Olympic era

Following a Royal LePage's recent forecast that property in western Canada's largest city would rise 7.2 percent this year, Bob Rennie, principle of Rennie Marketing Systems, Canada and USA, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that Vancouver properties would conservatively rise 4 to 4.5 percent in 2010, which would present an ideal opportunity for investors.

"Every market has people who want to jump in and jump out, but there is something unique about Vancouver that once people get their name on title they tend to hold and that's what maintained prices. And a very low vacancy rate has maintained prices on property prices." With Chinese-Canadians about 300,000 of the city's 2.2 million population Rennie said Asian investors were increasingly an important factor to the market, accounting for about 25 percent of the overall sales.

"With the amount of money being made in China, and with the acceptance of China to Vancouver, we have to be in the top two places on the planet for China to look at, to move money to. We see it happening right now, it's happening a lot. It used to just happen in the luxury market, now it's happening in all the market."

Read the report here>.

Will the Vancouver housing market keep up with the steady price gain, or suffer a sudden collapse?



View Vancouver homes for sale.

Greater Vancouver Real Estate - Supply & Demand

A few months ago, "Housing Analysis" posted some very interesting data on the supply and demand for homes in Greater Vancouver. The period covered was from January 2005 to October, 2009. View the link here>.

The average monthly sales for 2005, 2006 and 2007 was around 3,500 units, with seasonal higher sales from April to July and the lowest level of sales around December and January. The average listings was around 10,000 to 12,500 homes. The MOI chart showed that during the above 3-year period, the inventory was fluctuating around 4 to 5 months of suplly.

Months of inventory

A balance market is generally when there are around 6 months supply of homes. When the "months of inventory" (MOI) is above 6, home prices tend to fall. When the MOI is below 6, the market is bullish and home prices tend to go up. From May 2008 to March 2009, the MOI exceeded 6, and home prices fell. When the MOI fell below 6 in April 2009, home prices rebounded.

The Greater Vancouver real estate price chart below is seen to confirm the strength or weakness in the housing market.




View Vancouver homes for sale.

ROYAL LEPAGE HOUSING REPORT

Another collection of housing market report by Vancouver
Home Mortgage:

Click on this link to read the full report by Royal Lepage 
Real Estate Services.

Unlike the U.S. housing market, the housing sentiment in
Canada is strong and there are no signs of any slowing
down in the demand for housing and price gain across the
country.

Articles submitted - September 09, 2007

Welcome to the September 9, 2007 edition of real estate investment.

Matt Hanson presents Credit Card Fraud - How to Protect Yourself posted at The Credit & Credit Card Blog, saying, "As technology has increased, so has credit card fraud. There are some simple steps that you can take to help protect yourself from credit card fraud."

Chris Russell presents Working Hard Does Not Produce Success posted at Productivity Planner, saying, "Yes, we work hard to be successful, but we also have to choose to be successful. It is a decision. It is a conscious effort. It takes mental discipline. It is a deliberate mindset."

Home Financing

Matthew Paulson presents 7 Ways to Avoid a Foreclosure posted at Getting Green.

Sagar Satapathy presents The Broke Handyman’s Box of Blueprints: 100 Free Plans to Build Home Furniture posted at Credit Card Lowdown.

Pushpa Sathish presents Top 10 Movies to Watch Before Remodeling Your Home posted at Homeowners Insurance Lowdown.

Ryan Russell presents Finding A Fix: 10 Tips For Resolving Financial Disputes posted at My Money Thinks, saying, "Over the past 20 years I have learned a lot about disputing issues with creditors and banks. Learn from my experiences, and start getting what you deserve when financial institutions cross the line."

Steve Faber presents - How to Sell Your House Fast and Keep More Money in Your Pocket posted at DebtBlog.

Millionaire Mommy Next Door presents 14 Ways To Improve Your Credit Score posted at Millionaire Mommy Next Door, saying, "Over the course of a 30 year mortgage term, I'd pay a whopping $357,873 less than you might, simply because I've established a good credit score."

Investment

Pam Johnson presents Renting Tips posted at Roofable, saying, "With the Buyer’s market we’re currently working through, there are many homeowners who can’t sell their houses and for one reason or another are forced to become landlords."

Dax Desai presents The Power of Self-Directed IRA’s posted at Dax Desai, saying, "Explains the power of self-directed IRA's and how to set one up."

Real estate investment

Laura presents 10 Home Selling Alternatives to Hiring a Real Estate Agent posted at Mortgage Lowdown.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of real estate investment using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: real estate investment, blog carnival.

US Housing Crisis that Greenspan Built

A blog posting by Vancouver Home Mortgage:

It was reported in The Financial Post on Sept 01,2007 in an article "Ultra-low Fed rates stoked housing boom: Taylor"

The bursting of the tech bubble and September 11/2001 terrorist attack on World Trade Center has resulted in Greenspan aggressively cutting interest rates and holding them too low for too long. The asset inflation had resulted in the US housing boom built with too much liquidity and un-regulated mortgage lending. With the collapse of the housing market, US home owners lost billions of dollars in their property asset values all over the US. And, the bottom is not in sight yet!

The recent injection of liquidity by the US and the likely reduction in interest rates will not solve the current problem on US housing deflation. The correction in house prices will take many years to unwind until consumer confidence returns to the market.

The housing problem in the US was explained superbly by the blog posting by Dr. Housing Bubble on the housing and real estate problem in Los Angeles.

The 2001-2006 US housing bubble, built on low interest rates and loose lending regulations is now too big a problem for the US government to solve. The bad mortgage papers created and the financial ramification will take many years to be sorted out. Meanwhile, the US housing recession will likely spill over and result in the contraction of the US economy.

The housing deflation will continue until house prices are once again supported by market fundamentals. The equilibrium is reached when the cost of renting (which currently costs around 50% of owning) is about the same as owning a home and making the monthly mortgage payment. This may take many years for it to happen.

Presently, with dropping house prices, many home owners are having mortgages equal or exceeding their house values. Although a financial crisis may be averted for home owners with option mortgages through the support of the US government, the cycle of declining house prices is already in motion. The US housing recession will affect the general economy as the loss of consumer confidence/dwindling wealth effect will depress consumer spending.

Canada's real estate and housing market will be affected when economic growth in the US is slowing down. There are already signs that the demand for housing is slowing down. The Edmonton market is now facing declining sales and house prices leveling off. Many homes were reported to be sold with large price reductions from the listed prices.

Articles submitted - August 25, 2007

Blog Carnival

real estate investment

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Welcome to the August 25, 2007 edition of real estate investment.

Bryan C. Fleming presents Buying into a Down Stock Market posted at Bryan C. Fleming, saying, "Did you ever think of playing the stock market? Why not just watch me loose all my money instead. In this artile I talk about buying into a down stock market. Yes, it's just like gambling... only legal!"

Eric Hudin presents Protecting Your Finances and Assets Offshore posted at My Estate Planning Career Blog, saying, "If you’re self employed, you’re affluent, you’re married, you have direct clients, business partners or you’re just concerned that you’re overpaying your taxes, there’s a strong possibility that you should be protecting your finances and assets offshore."

Allen Taylor presents What is a Charitable Trust? posted at Investing World Today, saying, "A charitable trust is designed to create a path whereby your assets may be converted into a life long stream of income and not a source of governmental revenue though taxes. Your taxes are lowered, what you pay now is lessened and what your heirs or your children pay will be lessened too when the time comes to pay estate taxes."

Tim Ramsey presents You Are Not Alone In The World Of Debt posted at My Debt Relief Blog, saying, "The first seven years of the “new millennium”, has seen the birth of more millionaires than every prior generation, but also created a generation more in debt that any generation that has come before."

Eric Stanley presents The Lure of Low Interest Rates posted at Personal Finance Blog Articles, saying, "Many of the financial decisions people make today are completely based on the current level of interest rates and have little consideration of long-term impact. Rates are so low it just makes sense to refinance or purchase now. We might as well do it or buy it now while rates are so low. Everyone has some debt no big deal rates are low."

Thomas Humes presents Baron Five-Step Action Plan for Building Wealth posted at Wealth Building World, saying, "It is important to learn disciplined strategies of sound money management, investing, and business administration. The more you learn about these areas, the more confident you will be in selecting advisors, making investments, and handling your business and financial affairs. You can easily move forward on your journey to financial success by taking these five simple actions-"

Home Financing

Ryan presents The Dirty Dozen Credit Card Traps posted at Care on Credit, saying, "Overview of the hidden traps in the terms and conditions for your credit cards. Learn how creditors juice you for extra dollars, and how to evaluate credit cards when you are trying to decide which one is right for you."

Matthew Paulson presents How to Qualify for Mortgage without a Credit Score posted at Getting Green.

housing bubble

Ian Welsh presents Reaping What You Sow: Hedge Fund and Housing Bubble Edition posted at The Agonist, saying, "To understand what's happening to the US housing and financial markets right now you need to understand the past policy decisions by the Fed and the Bush administration."

Ian Welsh presents How Bad Will the Housing Bubble Hangover Be? posted at The Agonist, saying, "Parallels with the Japanese housing bubble suggest the housing market will be in for years and years of pain."

Real estate investment

Johnny Wednesday presents Renting vs. Buying Real Estate posted at Johnny Wednesday.

Logan Flatt, CFA presents You Don't Own Real Estate. Real Estate Owns You. posted at PowerWealth.com, saying, "Many Americans believe that real estate can do no wrong as an asset class upon which they can build wealth. I disagree. Building wealth through real estate depends on your ability to distinguish among the three types of real estate ownership – investment, speculative, and personal. If you don’t know the differences, you may soon discover that you don’t own real estate, real estate owns you."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of real estate investment using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: real estate investment, blog carnival.

Articles: Real estate and mortgage investment

Blog Carnival

real estate and mortgage investment

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A Blog hosted by Vancouver Home Mortgage:

Welcome to the August 18, 2007 edition of real estate and mortgage investment.

finance

John Crenshaw presents Top 3 Reasons Mortgage Rate Shopping Will Kill You posted at Truthful Lending dot Com, saying, "It's true...you will cause yourself nothing but pain by shopping for a mortgage based on rate alone. Read on to find out what I mean."

Larry Russell presents The Biggest Personal Finance Story of the Past 30 Years (Part 2) posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog, saying, "The biggest personal finance story of the past 30 years has been the dramatic growth of the market capitalization of financial services firms within the U.S. equity markets. The reason that this is so important to your personal finances is pretty straightforward. Simply put, most individuals pay far too much for financial products and services. Their continuing over payments show up in the increasing value of financial services company stocks. People have paid far too much for years, and the industry's excessive charges have been increasing for years."

edithyeung presents The Money Series – Steps to Create Passive Income posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

money

Warren Wong presents How To Pick A Good Stock posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, "Do you know how to pick a good stock? Here's how to find a good long term investment!"

real estate

Amanda Harris presents Colorado Real Estate posted at Pajama Mommy.

real estate investment

Chris presents Why it doesn't necessarily pay off to buy your own house in the US, Australia or Europe posted at nomad4ever.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of real estate and mortgage investment using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: real estate and mortgage investment, blog carnival.

Will US$323B injection cure market flu?

As I see it by Vancouver home Mortgage:

Published: Saturday, August 11, 2007 by Paul Vieira, Financial Post

The International Monetary Fund said the global financial market turmoil and related credit crunch should be "manageable."

In recent days rates on the overnight market had climbed well above targets set by central banks.

The widespread credit crunch is the result of mounting defaults in the U.S. subprime mortgage market, where individuals with higher-risk credit ratings are able to obtain financing for home purchases. This spilled over to banks and investment funds, which had exposure to this market.

Click here to read the full report.

There are great concerns by the world financial markets that the credit sqeeze and lack of liquidity as a result of mounting U.S. subprime mortgage defaults may result in widespread economic slowdown.

The market is concerned that the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown will spread to the general economy. As reported by Newsweek Business article A Widening Credit Squeeze? is spilling over to America’s credit-card debt.

The danger in the credit crunch and shifting of credit usage bu consumers to high interest credit cards will have a significant impact on consumer spending. And with consumer spending accounting for about 72 percent of gross domestic product, any slowdown in spending could have a big impact on the U.S. and Canada.

In view of this week's worldwide market turmoil, market analysts are giving it a even chance that Bank of Canada governor, David Dodge, would defer raising interest rates next month.

Hopefully, the credit crunch in the world financial markets will ease off, and the U.S. subprime woes will be contained. And,the excesses in the housing and mortgage markets will be resolved over time.

Who will be hurt?

In today's Financial Post, Reuters Published: Thursday, August 02, 2007 reported "Canadian, U.S. banks face limited subprime shocks"

NEW YORK -- U.S. and Canadian banks face limited exposure to subprime mortgage losses and future rating downgrades, bond rating company DBRS said on Thursday.

Healthy earnings should insulate financial institutions, DBRS analysts said on a conference call.

"We do not expect wholesale downgrades of banks with exposure to subprime."

Brenda Lum, who covers Canadian banks for DBRS, reiterated remarks made in a report on Wednesday that said Canada's five largest banks also face limited losses from their exposure to U.S. subprime loans.

"There are no credit rating implications for the five largest Canadian banks," Lum said.

But, home owners who bought their homes recently will not be so lucky. The reason being these home owners paid a lot more for their homes than those that bought their homes a few years earlier. Many home owners in the U.S are already facing serious problems with deteriorating house values and higher mortgage payments.

In Canada, we will not be immuned to the price correction when the housing market turn south. It's not unreasonable to expect prices to correct 15% to 20% considering house prices have gone up almost 100% over the past 6 years.

In the hot housing markets in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary and Edmonton. there are not much up-side potential in house prices continuing to increase without a correction. The down-side risk could be devastating for many home buyers who only bought their homes in the recent months.

It's already in the news that there are likely to be another interest rate hike in September, possibly follow by another one before the end of 2007.

You are welcome to post your comments here.

Markets in meltdown

Growing housing crisis fraying consumers' nerves; sales plunge and credit turmoil spark stocks rout

Jacqueline Thorpe, Financial Post

Published: Friday, July 27, 2007

"We have had the most pronounced credit market cycle in U.S. economic history," said David Rosenberg, chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch. "It has powered the bull market in equities and the prosperity in the economy. Sales of new homes plummeted 6.6% in June to an annual rate of 834,000. That followed news on Wednesday that existing-home sales dropped 3.8% to 5.73-million units.

The figures, combined with ongoing turmoil in the credit market, led to a global stock market rout. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.3%, or 311.50 points. The United States now has 4.73 million houses on the block, an inventory of a near-record 7.5 months, said Michael Gregory, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

The oversupply in the condo market in Miami is now so intense that Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy. Consumer confidence is lower now than in the months immediately preceding each of the previous two recessions, Mr. Rosenberg said.
With more than half the mortgage equity withdrawal from the housing boom going toward purchases of big-ticket items, sales activity is bound to slow as prices fall.

"One of the key things that has driven consumer spending all along has been mortgage equity withdrawal," Mr. Gregory said.

Credit conditions for consumers are only likely to get tighter as a whole wave of mortgages are reset at higher rates.

Meanwhile, the credit woes in the subprime market are causing credit conditions to tighten in the corporate world. Mr. Rosenberg notes there has been a 100-basis point widening in the spread between high-yield bonds and government debt and the pain is starting to spread to better quality credit.

Financial sector gave early warning

David Berman, Financial Post Published: Friday, July 27, 2007:

The stock market is convulsing this week on a bad diet of defaulting subprime mortgages, postponed debt offerings and a sudden shift in investor sentiment. The collection of mostly Canadian banks and insurance companies has been selling off over the past couple of months, foreshadowing the mess hitting the current market and giving investors their first glimpse of a battered sector within a roaring bull market.

The S&P/TSX financials index hit a peak in mid-May, when the mergers-and-acquisitions boom was in full swing, private-equity buyouts were a snap to finance with high-yield bonds, the Bank of Canada looked as though it had put interest rates on hold and some observers thought the U.S. housing market was near a bottom -- all of which are fine conditions for bank stocks.

Now, investors are growing increasingly concerned about the credit markets and rising interest rates, months after these concerns first affected bank stocks.
After yesterday's stock market bash-up -- its third wallop in the past four days -- the financial index is under water this year with a loss of 0.7% and is 6.5% below its peak. In particular, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce shares are down 13.5% from their highs and Royal Bank of Canada shares are down 9.3%. Meanwhile, the rest of the S&P/TSX composite index is up 7.3% this year and is just 5.5% off its record high.

Financial stocks are not far behind over the same period.

Yes, investors are concerned over the extent to which Canadian banks are exposed to the deteriorating U.S. housing market, but early indications point to a rather limited exposure.

The way the market is headed, that buying opportunity may arrive considerably sooner.

Vancouver Real Estate Bubble?

A blog posting by Vancouver Home Mortgage:

In today's Financial Post article
"Longer mortgages ease pain", Garry Marr quoted a report by Derek Holt, assistant chief economist with RBC. There are some issues mentioned on the report that are worth commenting:

"The recent trend to extend mortgage repayment plans to 40 years from 25 years has made consumers less sensitive to interest rate hikes"

"The housing cycle is being extended by new government policy - a reference to the Canadian Government's mortgage insurance rule by reducing the 25% down payment requirement to 20% this year"

The report attributed the changes in "driving up housing prices because consumers can deal with what Mr. Holt calls "down payment shock" by increasing the amortization period.

The above changes are exasperating the housing affordability situation (especially in Western Canadian cities) from bad to worse. While the above lending policy changes help in making home ownership easier, they are fueling demand and higher price gains on all housing units. But, I suspect these are not the main reasons why people are buying.

The real estate frenzy especially for Western Canadian cities like Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary and Edmonton is all consuming. Canadian home owners are happy with the huge price gains in their house values over the past 5 years. Many more people are encouraged to jump in for fear of loosing out as housing reports from real estate experts and economists are predicting another 7% to 8% price gain for the next 2 years?

Another point cited in the RBC report that "the changes in the borrowing practices in Canada have made the Canadian housing market less likely to implode as it has in the United States" is missing the point. It's the lending practices and not the borrowing practices in Canada that save us from facing a similar housing melt-down like the U.S.

The US housing markets are different from Canada in 2 major lending areas:

Firstly, the US sub-prime and "exotic" Variable Option mortgages as reported are as high as 25% of US mortgage origination. In Canada, the sub-prime lending hardly exceed 5% of all mortgages for the past 3 years.

Secondly, mortgage interest payment in the U.S is deductable as an expense, and this encourages more speculative buying and house price escalation in the U.S.

The housing implosion in the U.S. is due to many such option mortgages facing interest rate resets resulting in many home owners not able to afford the new mortgage payments. The housing price collapse in the U.S. is accelerated by tightened lending standards, and difficulties in home refinancing due to house prices worth less than the mortgages owing.

The Canadian housing cycle will take its course and unwind itself to a level when rental return and housing affordability are in balance. There is a disconnect between the average Canadian household income and average housing cost. As it is now, there is a "madness of crowd" mentality that if one is not jumping in to buy a home, or 2 or 3 (for speculation), they will miss the boat.

We, in Canada are faced with the following problems:

1) over-valued house prices - similar to the U.S.
2) major problem with housing affordability - maybe worse than the U.S.
3) over-supply of housing inventory (not apparent now)
4) bullish crowd mentality on real estate - people think we are different from U.S.
5) an economy exporting 80% to the U.S. - danger of economy contraction
6) Canadian loonie approaching parity with US$ - not through productivity gain

What are your thoughts?

Vancouver housing bubble: Will it burst or just deflate?

A blog posting by Vancouver Home Mortgage :

With the Bank of Canada raising interest rates and Canadian Banks offering more attractive saving rates to consumers, investors will be tempted to move their real estate investments to safer savings account and GIC investments.

The Bank of Nova Scotia is advertising a 4.85%* on a 24-month GIC. The offer is only available until August 04. There are minimum deposit of $1,000 required and the GIC is non-redeemable.

ICICI Bank offers a more flexible deal, offering 4.5% on C$ deposits and 5.0% on US$ deposits on the bank’s HiSAVE Savings Account. There is no minimum deposit required and interest is calculated the daily balance and paid monthly!

The Canadian housing market is faced with:

* Rising Interest Rates
* Severe affordability problem
* Rising dollar impacting the manufacturing and resource sectors
* Softening in oil and gas prices
* Increasing new and resale home inventory
* Distinct possibility of US recession

These are negative forces that could topple the unrealistic real estate markets in Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley of BC, Calgary and Edmonton.

What are your thoughts?

Is there a housing bubble in Vancouver?

A blog posting by Vancouver Home Mortgage:

The U.S. housing market has been on a downward slide for the past 1.5 years. More troubles on sub-prime mortgage problems and foreclosures are being reported every month. Each month, there are more bad news that home builders are slashing prices to unload their inventories. The housing problem in the U.S. as reported by many economists is nowhere near to hitting the bottom yet!

On the contrary, Canada real estate across all the provinces are reported to continue their upward march to new record house prices. House prices are now double what they were 5 years ago!

Are we in Canada so different from the U.S.? Or, is it a matter of time that we will face the same problem with downward spiral in home prices.

If you are looking at buying a condo, townhouse of a detached home, are you buying at the top or near the top of the market?

What's so different in Vancouver that you have to pay twice as much as a similar condo in Toronto? Why home buyers in Vancouver are still chasing the housing market?

What are your thoughts? You are welcome to post your comments here.