Have you got your inoculation? Article in todays Vancouver Sun: Condo fever predicted to spread.
The Lower Mainland’s seeming addiction to condominium living will continue to spread to other desirable regions of the province, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reports in its latest British Columbia forecasts.
We just can’t get enough of ’em! Its the lifestyle!
However, on cost, Frketich added that keeping housing “at a price that people will buy is the main motivator behind that move to multi-unit starts.”
“There is no sense in building housing that people can’t buy, and this is a response on the builders’ side to bring forward product that people can buy.”
In Kamloops, for instance, the average home price will climb 17.2 per cent to $305,587 in 2007 compared with 2006.
And what about mortgage rates? They’ve got a prediction for everything!
Frketich said she expects mortgage rates to edge up in 2008. Rates will remain historically low, but she expects they will put a dent in housing resales, which will spill over into less demand for new homes.
She added that for the past few years, B.C. has been building new housing faster than its population growth warrants. And as employment growth slows, Frketich expects new housing construction to remain at a still relatively high 30,000 units per year over the next five years.
Thank goodness housing prices can’t actually go down or we might really have a problem with the combination of high prices, all that supply and slow population growth.
So what are the symptoms of condo fever? I feel a bit dizzy, but maybe its just the spin.
