Canadian Housing: Is A Housing Bust On Course?

* Housing market growth in Canada is weakening as starts, transactions and home prices are declining on a national basis. Those regions with the highest price gains (Vancouver, Alberta) are sinking the fastest and may continue to report declines as the Canadian economic contraction continues. However given tighter mortgage finance, the spillover to the financial sector should be less significant than in the U.S. and despite overbuilding in recent years, supply overhang is still lower than in the 1990s

* The New Housing Price Index decreased by 0.8% y/y in January 2009, the first y/y decrease at the National level since January 1997. On a m/m basis, prices declined 2.8% in Edmonton, followed by Calgary (-2.1%), Victoria (-1.1%) and Vancouver (-0.7%) while prices are still rising in the Maritimes

rgemonitor.com