Canadian house prices drop
This from today’s Globe and Mail – Canadian house prices dropped in June for the first time in nine years:
Canadian home prices fell in June for the first time since January, 1999, as the number of houses for sale remained at record levels.
The average price of an existing home fell 0.4 per cent in June to $341,096, compared with $342,615 the year before, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).
“The fall in home prices…is a sizable dip in this indicator, given that not too long ago the Canadian housing market was witnessing double-digit price gains,” Millan Mulraine, economic strategist at TD Securities Inc., said in a research note.
Of the 25 major markets included in the statistics, average home prices declined on a year-over-year basis in Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria and Windsor-Essex. The largest decline of 2.6 per cent was in Edmonton, while the smallest was in Windsor-Essex at 0.5 per cent.
Last month, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. economist Douglas Porter raised the possibility of an overall drop in home prices in Canada. Most industry watchers have stayed with the view that home prices will rise slightly this year.
In June, Mr. Porter said it was “unnerving” to note that Canada’s housing market performance appears to be tracking that of the U.S. but with a two-year lag, although he also sees a number of differences between the two markets.
He said he was tracking prices in the “middle ground,” cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, which still have fairly robust economic fundamentals but haven’t been supercharged by the commodities boom.
Prices in those cities all rose moderately year-over-year in June, up 3.7 per cent in Toronto, 4 per cent in Montreal and 6.8 per cent in Ottawa.
The Canadian and U.S. markets are still very different, CREA president Calvin Lindberg said in a statement. U.S. home prices dropped by 14.1 per cent in the first quarter of the year, according to the benchmark Case-Shiller national home price index.
Out local market stands out as the biggest year-over-year decrease in sales in all the Nation, Greater Vancouver saw sales drop 42.9% from last June.
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July 17th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Ted,
The remaining Coopers neighborhood buildings are supposed to complete late this year according to the Concord website.
Concord was able to pull off a very rapid completion on the Coopers Pointe building mid-December, 2007. Quality on completion suffered as a result and they had a multitude of deficiencies to fix. They really ought to proceed more diligently on the next buildings before handing over the keys.
When I visited the Cooper's Pointe building a month ago, Concord still hadn't completed the painting touch-ups. The common areas had green sticky markers EVERYWHERE! The original paint job was very poorly done. To leave such a visible yet easily fixed mess unattended for a half-year reflects poorly on them. In general, the building was finished to a noticeably lower standard than their earlier 'SILVER' standard buildings.
They can't possibly be running out of money. Even if their building costs are higher than anticipated, they appear to have scaled back on quality to provide the absolute minimum that is expected. Their higher end units sold well over $1000/sqft, and their land was cheap. I'm sure they're making out like bandits.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
1) Vancouver has manufacturing?
2) Yes, until it's not, that's the problem with bootstrapping.
3) Uhh did you read what they said? They're holding steady because they're afraid to move it either way due to a shaky economy.
4) Due almost entirely to bootstrapping (see 2).
5) Well you're right on this one, Real Estate prices are steadily declining over the past couple of months.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
John; to summarize your summary:
"The Bear turns his head, looks at the man and says "You're not here for the hunting, are you?"
July 16th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
So let's summarize the situation here:
1) Manufacturing is up
2) Construction is still booming
3) Bank holds rates steady due to extremely healthy economy
4) jobless numbers down
5) Real estate prices steady
It's time to go out and hunt down some bears.