Canadian Housing Bubble, Debt Stir Financial Crisis Fears

Jon Blogosphere, Economy, Market Commentary, Real Estate

Their bone-chilling chart. Everyone is fretting about the Canadian house price bubble and the mountain of debt it generates – from the IMF on down to the regular Canadian. Now even the Bank for International Settlement (BIS) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warn about the risks.
Every city has its own housing market, and some aren’t so hot. But in Vancouver and Toronto, all heck has broken loose in recent years.
In Vancouver, for example, even as sales volume plunged 45% in August from a year ago – under the impact of the new 15% transfer tax aimed at Chinese non-resident investors – the ‘benchmark’ priceof a detached house soared by 35.8%, of an apartment by 26.9%, and of an attached house by 31.1%. Ludicrous price increases!

This post was published at Wolf Street by Wolf Richter ‘ September 23, 2016.