Canada's Housing Bubble

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Nov 5, 2009 dailycommercialnews

Existing home sales in Canada have rebounded sharply in the past few months, but Canadian Real Estate Association chief economist Gregory Klump doesn’t see the surge lasting much longer.

“The big jump we’ve seen is housing activity in recent months is not sustainable, in fact it’s already shown signs it’s leveled out,” Klump said during a video interview with Reed Construction Data at the CanaData Construction Industry Forecasts Conference in Toronto Sept. 24.

“A leveling out and indeed a fading in the second half of 2010 is baked into CREA’s forecast.”

Klump also challenged the notion that there is a significant gap between existing home sales and new housing starts.

“It’s a little bit overplayed that there’s this big inventory overhang to be drawn down before housing starts pick back up significantly,” he said.