Hottest Canadian Markets Cooling Off?

The housing boom in Canada is over according to some economist after years of growth; they believe that the home prices are going to flatline for the next decade. It is feared that the kind of economic shock that was sent through the economies of Japan in 1990s, the American states of California and Nevada in 2006 could happen in Canada. Such castrophic occurences could kick the housing prices down by 44%. Recovery from this would be possible, but very slow.

Because of the tightening mortgage rules and other similar factors, the housing market has lost its vitals, so to speak, over the past several months.

Meanwhile, the housing market is expected to moderate from this year through next year, 2017. In Ontario, the prices of the homes located in that city, are forecast to increase to 4% this year. But it seems that this is lower than the 6% average the market has been used to this past decade. On the other hand, home prices across Canada have increased to 7% from a 5.4% years prior to 2012 and after 1980.

Due to the decrease in demand from buyers, builders have held off on some projects for awhile, especially condominiums in Ottawa.

The projected number of housing starts for this year, 2016, is expected to slip down to about 178,150 units, slowing down to a range of 153,000 and 203,000 units. While for next year, 2017, it is expected to decrease by 3% from this year across the country.

Home sales are projected to range between 425,000 to 534,000 units with a forecast of 479,500. This is through the Multiple Listing Service also known as MLS. The average MLS price is expected to increase up to, between $420,000 and $466,000. This is a slight increase from 2015.

While in 2017, 476,000 has been forecast with a range of 416,000 and 536,000 units.