According to this article in the Financial Post signs of a Canadian housing downturn are everywhere.
They don’t pull many punches as they discuss the national home sales decline, overvalued housing and semantics:
Let’s not argue over whether Canada is the proud owner of a pretty pink housing balloon or a black bubble because either way, they both can pop.
They report some interesting numbers that the general public is likely not aware of. Did you know that housing related industries currently make up 27% of the Canadian economy? For a little bit of perspective that compares to 24% of the US economy at the height of their housing bubble.
Then of course there are the predictions for the future:
“Overall, we think existing home sales will continue to decline with negative implications for the elevated level of home building and broader knock-in implications for domestic demand growth,” David Madani, an analyst with Capital Economics, wrote in newsletter Friday.
And Mr. Ben Rabidoux, what do you think?
“Typically when you have a distortion in the economy, it is rarely painless to rebalance it. We’re in for a relatively painful period.”
Read the full article here.
