Blogs

Over the past few weeks, we've heard some pretty scary terms being tossed about regarding the housing market: Canada is in a housing boom – bubble – bust; the market is softening, deflating, freefalling, crashing. The truth is that the federal government's new mortgage qualifying regulations introduced a lot of uncertainty into the market. Many folks are calling us with one question on their minds, "Should I buy now or wait?"

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), housing markets are expected to remain stable for the rest of the year, and housing starts are expected to moderate in 2015 and 2016.

The BC housing market had a red-hot April.

British Columbia had its strongest April in more than a decade, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA).

Despite concerns about Alberta’s economic woes spilling over the border, BC’s province-wide sales in April were up to 9,952 transactions, a 28.7 percent increase from the year-ago period.

Housing starts in Canada were down for the fifth consecutive month in February, according to the latest figures by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Plunging to their weakest level since 2009, the drop has been partly blamed on severe winter weather conditions that nonetheless have added to fears that Canada’s post-recession housing boom will stall this year.

Vancouver hit a new record for high end sales in 2014.

Vancouver has been identified as one of the most unaffordable cities in the world in a study of major property markets.

The latest Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index revealed a slight drop in Canada's house prices last December. Repeat sales of single-family homes also slipped by 0.2 per cent from the month earlier.