.Kelowna BC, Canada – Real Estate – Information and Listings

Canada’s housing market is tilting in favour of buyers, but a U.S.- style collapse is not expected in the future, says a new report from Scotia Economics.  The report says the longest postwar housing boom has ended with the most significant slowdowns in the previously hot markets of Western Canada.  Still, the report says “virtually all regions” are now in favourofthe buyer for the first time in years. The bank is warning Canadians not to take an “overly alarmist view” to the future of the housing market. “This is not a ‘U.S.- style’ bust caused by overbuilding, speculative buying and imprudent lending, but rather a cyclical slowdown accompanied by a valuation adjustment in several large centres where booming demand conditions and temporary supply constraints led to an overshooting in prices,” the report states.

The bank says the market adjustment in Canada has been hastened by the sharp downgrading in global economic prospects and severe turbulence in financial markets. The bank expects the correction in national average prices in Canada, from their late 2007 peak, will be in the 10 to 15 per cent range. “Much of this realignment will occur in Canada’s three Western-most provinces, and will leave intact most of the significant price appreciation of recent years,” says the report.

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